Worst of days
by Danni1989
Summary: After she catches her father cheating on her mother, her boyfriend lies to her, and her best friend cheats on his girlfriend, Haley runs away with her mother.  She meets Dean, will she let him in?  Will she ever trust men again?  Will she forgive Nathan?
1. Chapter 1

**This is my new fic, i hope you guys like it. The writing is all mine, but the idea came from kaya17tj. Thank you for the great idea. I hope it makes you happy. i own nothing but my words. Please read and review. **

* * *

This had been the worst day ever. The petite brown haired, brown eyed girl leaned against her seat and stared out the car window at the trees going by. Getting tired of the scenery, she glanced over at the driver. Her mother. Sitting in silence, she remembered 12 hours earlier.

_Flashback;_

_Haley walked into the kitchen that morning, and was immediately stopped in her tracks. There in the middle of the kitchen, her father was embracing a woman who was most definitely not her mother. She remembered thinking, how could he do this to mom? What went wrong? She ran out of the house, needing to tell someone about what she had witnessed. Her first instinct was to go to school, and hopefully tell her best friend Lucas, as long as he wasn't draped over his girlfriend Brooke Davis. What she found however was not quite was she expected. She walked into the library knowing that was where she would find Lucas, only to find him, cheating on Brooke, with Brooke's best friend Peyton. Haley couldn't believe it. It seemed everyone in her life was lying and cheating on the person they were in an exclusive relationship with. Completely disillusioned, she sat down at a table, and wondered what was going on. She successfully avoided Lucas, until after school, when she decided to go to his house to confront him about his affair._

_"What are you doing with Peyton?" she asked bitterly._

_"Nothing. What are you talking about? Did Peyton say something?" he asked confused._

_"You know what I'm talking about. I saw you and Peyton together in the library. Which is completely awful of you considering you have a girlfriend named Brooke." she spit back at him._

_"I know that Haley." he said._

_"Then end it. You cant do that to Brooke. I don't like the way you've changed Lucas." she seethed._

_"The way I've changed? How about the way you've changed?" he said growing angry._

_"I haven't changed. I am still the same person I have always been. I don't like the person you're becoming." she said before turning to the door and walking out. In tears she ended up driving to see the one person she knew could cheer her up. She drove over to Nathan's house. She marched into his house, knowing that Deb or Dan were unlikely to be there, and walked right up to Nathan's bedroom, finding the door closed, and hearing voices coming from inside the room. She heard Nathan talking to Tim, and she could just make out what they were saying._

_"You know what man, Haley really seems to trust you. It wont take long now, before you have her where you want her, and you can use her to hurt Pucas." Tim said giggling. It was silent for a few seconds when Nathan responded._

_"You know what Tim. Trust is a lie, no one really knows anyone." he said. Haley felt her heard break into a thousand pieces, and she ran from the house. She drove home with tears stinging her eyes. Her life didn't get any better, she walked into the house, hearing her mother yell at her father. Her father seemed to be defending his actions, while her mother yelled, screamed and cried. The last thing she heard, were the four words she was hoping she would never hear come out of her parents mouths. "I want a divorce." her mother shouted towards her father._

_End of flashback._

Haley couldn't believe that all three men in her life betrayed her cruelly in the same day. She found out that her father and Lucas were cheaters, and Nathan her first love was a liar. It was hard for her to believe that the relationships that she prided herself on were all lies. It was hard to understand something like that. She decided to leave Tree Hill for good, with her mother. They were leaving Tree Hill, they were leaving North Carolina. They were leaving their lives behind in search for something new, something safe. Somewhere far away from the drama that circled their lives in Tree Hill.

* * *

Meanwhile, Nathan was sitting at home, concerned to as why Haley would not answer any of his calls. He had just had the worst night of his life, and now his girlfriend wasn't around to comfort him. He needed her now, and it was weird that she wasn't even picking up her cell. It was going straight to voicemail. Last night he found out that his mother, had had an affair on his father, and now was going to be gone all summer. Which meant that he now had to spend a summer of hell with his father and only his father. He really needed Haley, considering he was the one person in the world that he could trust. He was in love with her, and he wanted her to know that. Now he just needed to get a hold of her, but that was proving to be easier said than done. She wasn't answering her cell. No one was picking up at her house. He had no clue who else to call. He would have to wait, it seemed.

Lucas laid in bed thinking, that maybe Haley was right. Actually that Haley was definitely right. She always was. He shouldn't be doing what he was doing to Brooke. It wasn't fair. Now all he needed to do was apologize to Haley. The only problem being that he couldn't contact her, she wasn't picking up at home or on her cell. He thought to himself, "wow she's more upset than even I thought." All he knew what that she needed to know how sorry he was for going off on her like that. He should have listened to her from the start. Now to make the decision between Brooke and Peyton. That was a tough decision.

Jimmy James laid on the couch nursing a bottle of whiskey. He didn't so much feel guilty for cheating on his wife, since the marriage had been over for a while. Neither of them wanted to admit it though. But he hated losing his little girl. His Haley. She was still the most important thing in his life, and he didn't know how to live his life without his daughter. She was the light. She was everything His youngest daughter was his world, and he managed to screw up his relationship with her. Jimmy no longer had anything. He had his whiskey, and without Haley, the whiskey was all he needed.

* * *

3 weeks later, Haley and her mother were settled in with her mothers friend in San Francisco California. They were living there until Lydia could afford to by them a house to themselves. Lydia was officially divorced, as neither wanted anything from the other. Haley was best friends with a boy down the street named Dean. Dean was like Lucas in the idea that he was loyal, and kind. She was bringing a part of her out that she hadn't known existed. It was him that had given her the idea to write all her thoughts down in a book. A journal. She was surprised how good it felt to let out all her emotions, all her feelings into this book, that no one would read. She wrote about her relationship with Nathan, how much she loved him. And how he broke her heart. She wrote about her friendship with Lucas, from the beginning on, and how he betrayed that trust. She wrote about her father infidelity, and how that also broke her heart. Even with everything her new life had to offer, there were still things she missed about Tree Hill. At that moment, she was laying on a beach with Dean talking about everything. She laughed whenever he would mention something funny. Dean had changed her for the better. She was much more open with her personality now. She wasn't as shy or introverted. And she had a confidence in herself that she hadn't had before. It was obvious Dean was good for her, she just wished that she could make herself feel for him, the way she still sometimes felt for Nathan. Haley tried to convince herself that life didn't get any better that that.

* * *

Nathan couldn't believe that she would just leave. Just like that. She didn't say goodbye. She didn't let him try to convince her to stay. Worst of all, he didn't even know why she was gone. Was it something that he did? Did something happen at home? Why didn't she tell him about it? So many questions ran through his mind at lightning speed. Where was she? Was she coming home? Did she miss him? Has she moved on? Why wont she call me? Why wont she write me? Has she moved on? That final question always stopped him. He could never breath when he thought of that question. He most definitely hadn't moved on. He was still just as in love with Haley as he was last time he seen her 3 weeks ago. He had seen her father around town sometimes. He had asked him a couple times if he knew where Haley was, but he always shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Nathan wasn't sure if he was just trying to mask the pain, or if he was completely indifferent. He couldn't see the second option being accurate because Haley bettered peoples lives. Look at his, before Haley he was a royal jackass, and now he was better. He wasn't purposely attacking Lucas, and he hadn't used a girl since Haley came into his life. "Please come home Haley." he thought to himself. "Please come home.".

* * *

Later that night, Haley was laying on her bed, writing in her journal again. She was writing her life story, wanting to remember everything that had ever happened in her life. She was at the part when she kissed Nathan for the first time. She remembered every detail from that night, and she never wanted to forget it. Despite how badly he hurt her, many of her happiest moments came from when they were together. They would have had many more happy moments, but he had to go destroy what they had. He needed to break her heart in a thousand pieces. She thought to herself "well Nathan, I am over you now. I am over you now." She tried to convince herself of that fact, knowing that it wasn't true yet. It wasn't true yet, but it would be sometime soon, she told herself. Sometime soon, she would be able to breathe again when thinking about him. Someday soon, she wouldn't even think about him, she could go one whole day without seeing his face. That day would come someday. Just not right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Just like most mornings, Haley was walking to school with Dean. He was encouraging her to pursue her writing. She had let him read part of her journal one night, and now he wouldn't shut up, about her publishing it.

"Hales, you gotta publish that. Your writing it amazing. There is enough of a story there, that it would make an excellent story." Dean insisted.

"No, I don't want to put myself out there. I don't want fame. I don't need it." she insisted.

"Fine, you don't need fame. But you should still put the book out there. I think that book would help many teenage girls." Dean insisted.

"I don't want people to know about my life Dean. It's too personal. There are things in there I don't want the entire world knowing." she told him quietly.

"About Nathan?" he asked knowingly.

"Yeah about him. And other people too." she told him.

"I understand Hales, I really do. Just please consider it." he told her.

"Fine." she said putting an end to the conversation. Haley had been living in San Francisco now for 6 months, and she had already completely filled her journal. It went into detail of her life before San Francisco. Dean was insistent that it would make a great book, but in Haley's opinion it was too personal, there was too much pain. The duo sat down at their usual table, and shortly after they sat down, Rachel, Haley's other best friend, sat down with them.

"Good morning friends." she greeted them happily.

"What are you so happy about?" Haley asked smiling.

"Oh nothing much." Rachel said smiling.

"Yeah, I totally believe that." Haley said smiling.

"Well its none of your business. So how's the book argument coming? Just to put my opinion out there, I agree with Dean, the journal is too good not to publish." Rachel told them.

"I respect your opinion's but its still too personal. I cant put myself out there like that." she told them quietly.

"is this all about that Nathan guy?" Rachel asked kindly.

"Mostly." Haley admitted.

"He doesn't deserve you Haley. You are a wonderful girl and any guy would be lucky to have you." Rachel said vehemently.

"Thanks Rach." Haley smiled at her best girlfriend.

"No problem Hales." she smiled at her friend.

Dean just sat there smiling. He was quickly falling in love with Haley James. He couldn't understand how this "Nathan" could hurt her like he did. Haley James was perfect. She was smart, she was talented, beautiful, confident, funny, kind…. There was not a good word that couldn't be used to describe Haley. He just wished that she would get over "Nathan" and let him all the way in.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Tree Hill High School, Lucas was walking through the halls alone. After realizing what he was doing was wrong, he dumped both Peyton and Brooke. He wanted nothing more than to see Haley, and apologize to her. He hadn't seen or heard from her in 6 months, and was ready to take desperate measures. Seeing his target, he walked right up to him.

"Nathan, can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked.

"Um yeah." Nathan said following Lucas away from the group. Nathan hoped Lucas knew something about Haley, because it had been 6 months, and he still hadn't heard anything from Haley.

"Have you heard from Haley, or do you know where she is?" Lucas asked worried.

Nathan's hopes disappeared hearing the desperate tone in Lucas's voice. "No. I was actually going to ask you the same thing. Did you talk to her dad?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, he just said their gone." Lucas said.

"Yeah, that's what he told me too. God I miss her. I don't even know what happened to make her leave. I didn't even get to say goodbye." Nathan told him.

"I know how you feel. We had a fight the day before she left, and I didn't get to apologize." Lucas said

"Well, I guess now we have something in common other than basketball. We both lost the best girl in the world. I was in love with her, and you were best friends with her." Nathan said sadly.

"Are you still in love with her?" Lucas asked.

"Yeah. I don't think that's going to go away anytime soon." he said.

"Yeah. I know what you mean." Lucas said.

"Well if you hear anything, call me. Okay? And I'll do the same for you." Nathan asked.

"Sure." he said.

Nathan was shocked how easy it was to talk to Lucas, he even almost liked him. It was funny how Haley, even when she was gone, still made him into a better person. He slowly walked back over to where the group was convened.

"Hey what did Pucas want?" Tim asked.

"It's Lucas. And its none of your business." Nathan told Tim, feeling the need to defend Lucas.

"What is your problem? Ever since Haley left, you have been like this." Tim whined.

"It's none of your business." Nathan repeated.

"Oh I get it. Is it because your tool in the plan to destroy Lucas is now gone, so your pretending to befriend him?" Tim asked.

"No. And Haley wasn't a tool to destroy Lucas. She was my girlfriend. It hadn't been about destroying Lucas in a long time." Nathan said before walking away again. Nathan wandered aimlessly around the school. He didn't know where he was going, he didn't know what he was doing. Without Haley, is life was a mess. Because of her absence he wouldn't get into college, because his grades sucked. Nor did he want to go to college, he wanted to find Haley. That was his mission in life until the moment he found her. Nathan walked until he saw Lucas sitting with a group of his friends. Taking a deep breath he walked over to them.

"Can I sit with you?" he asked.

Lucas looked up in shock. "Yeah, sure." he said.

"Great, thanks Luke." he said taking the seat next to him. The rest of the table were unsure, but since Lucas seemed to accept Nathan, they would too. The group spent the rest of the lunch hour talking basketball. But somewhere in the back of Nathan's mind, he knew that somehow he was to blame for Haley leaving. Because if he wasn't to blame, why wouldn't she have told him, why would she have just up and gone, without so much as a goodbye. Nathan knew that Lucas felt the same way. Losing Haley, bonded the brothers more than either of them knew.

* * *

That afternoon, while Haley was out shopping with Rachel, Dean snuck into her bedroom and stole her journal. He knew that someone needed to see this, that it deserved to be published. Haley's writing was so perfect, it deserved to be read. He loved reading the precise way she worded some of the people. Even the people she said she hated most, she talked about them with so much respect. Even Nathan, who she said broke her heart, she wrote with so much love that it made Dean believe she still had feelings for him. Considering it was San Francisco, it wasn't that hard to find a publisher. Dean left the journal with the front desk of a publishing agency in town, and went home. They said they would call him if they liked the book. Dean assured them it was an amazing work of art. Dean hoped with all his heart that Haley would get her big break. Haley was the one person in the world that deserved all the happiness she could get.

It was a couple weeks later, and Dean, Haley, and Rachel were sitting at their usual lunch table at school. They were busy discussing graduation plans, since it was coming soon. Dean was listening to a particularly boring conversation about dresses, and hair products and make up when his phone rang.

"Hello" he answered.

"Hello. Is this Dean?" the man asked.

"Yeah, who is this?" Dean asked.

"I am Craig Morton. I just want to say we love your friends book, and would love to publish it." he said.

"Oh my God that is so great. Yes! Thank you so much!" Dean said hanging up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Haley asked.

"Booty call?" Rachel asked.

"No, Hales, your book is getting published. I just talked to the publishing company. They are publishing your book." Dean said excited.

"what?" Haley asked shocked.

"They are publishing your book. This is great. Your going to be published." he said jumping up and hugging Haley.

"Wow. I cant believe I'm actually going to be published." Haley said.

* * *

The editing of the book, was a long tedious practice. But eventually it was finished. She was so proud of the book, she considered it her first child. By this time graduation had passed, and Craig was busy planning a book tour, since she was now out of school. The book would be released everywhere tomorrow, and Haley was nervous and excited for people to read her writing. She had been assured on several occasions that her writing was fantastic, but she was still worried. She didn't think that feeling would ever go away. She had found herself thinking about Nathan more and more. She wondered if he would bother to read the book, she hoped someone from home would, so they would finally know why she left. It had been almost a year now, in fact in a couple weeks a year would have gone by. There were days that she missed the quiet life Tree Hill had to offer, but then she remembered her past.

* * *

Lucas was walking through the mall a few days later. Instinctively he walked into the book store, and what he saw froze him in his spot. He saw a book sitting on the new release rack, the book was "The Journal" by Haley James. He flipped the book over to see the picture, and sure enough the picture on the back was one of his best friend. Lucas immediately paid for his copy and left the store. He drove over to Nathan's, since in the past year they had become good friends, even finally considering each other brothers. After graduation, Nathan took up a job and Tric and became a bartender, he was living in a one bedroom apartment. He knocked on Nathan's door.

"Hey man. Come on in." he said when he opened the door to find Lucas.

"I need to show you something." Lucas said shutting the door behind him.

"What?" Nathan asked. Lucas handed him the book.

"The journal. By Haley James." he said, he was shocked when he flipped over the book and saw Haley's face smiling.

"You can read it first. It seems like it's a biography of her life, maybe it'll tell you why she left." Lucas said getting up to leave.

"Thanks Luke." Nathan said as Lucas was leaving. Nathan immediately got to work on the book, it wasn't long. Nathan read all night, and by the time he finished the book, he fully understood why she left. Haley had lost all faith in the male species that one day. Although, Nathan's part of it was little more than a misunderstanding. Nathan just hoped that he could see her again, to clear up the misunderstanding, because according to Nathan, their relationship was worth the effort. In the year she had been gone, he hadn't dated another person. The relationship never officially ended so, he didn't want to be with any other girls. There was no one in the world like Haley James, Nathan was sure of it.

* * *

Meanwhile Haley, Dean and Rachel were sitting in Craig's office finalizing the book tour dates.

"Okay, your first stop will be Tree Hill, since that's where the book is set, I bet it'll sell really well there." Craig said.

"I don't want to go to Tree Hill. It has too many memories, and people I don't want to see." Haley said.

"Tree Hill is not optional. You are leaving here Friday since that's the only flight between now and the day after the signing. You'll be spending 9 days there, I have already booked rooms for the 3 of you since I'm assuming your entourage is tagging along." Craig said.

"Yes, I am tagging along. And I am not an entourage. I am Haley's best girlfriend." Rachel said smugly. Haley just took a deep breath and said to herself "Tree Hill here I come."


	3. Chapter 3

It was Friday, and Haley, Dean and Rachel had just stepped off the plane in Tree Hill. Haley sighed, and Rachel put her hand on Haley's arm reassuringly.

"Hales, its gonna be fine. We are going to be here for 9 days, it shouldn't be too hard to avoid the people from the book." she told her friend.

"Do you realize how small Tree Hill is?" Haley asked.

"I don't know. I've never been here before." Rachel admitted.

"I wont be able to avoid them. I'll see them around town. We cant really hide in our hotel rooms the entire trip." Haley said.

"That's right. Lets go Hales. Rach." Dean said stepping up to them with their suitcases. The trio stepped into the waiting cab, and he took them to the hotel rooms.

Lucas was on his way over to Nathan's apartment. This conversation had been a long time coming. He was tired of seeing Nathan live the way he was. He was far to talented to just be a bartender at Tric. There had to be something more out there for him. Lucas just walked through his front door, and Nathan looked up from his TV.

"Hey Luke. What's up?" he asked as Lucas sat down across from him.

"Nate I need to talk to you." Lucas stated.

"Oh, this cant be good." Nathan said remembering all the other times Lucas had come over and said those words.

"You cant keep living like this man. You are far too talented to be a bartender at Tric, for the rest of your life." Lucas started saying.

"Luke. This is my only option. I didn't have the grades to go to college. I lost my tutor remember that." Nathan reminded him.

"It's not your only option. And you didn't fail because you didn't have a tutor, you failed because you gave up. You can always go to community college, and raise your grades, then transfer out a bigger college. You cant live like this. You deserve so much more." Lucas said.

"I'll think about it." Nathan said, before turning back to his TV.

"Good." Lucas said nodding before focusing his attention on the basketball game in front of him.

"Okay. Now that we're settled into our rooms, we want the official Tree Hill tour." Dean said walking into Haley and Rachel's room.

"Yeah. Haley give us a tour of your town." Rachel insisted.

"Fine." Haley said before grabbing her friends arms and leading them out of the room. As the trio walked Haley pointed out locations. She paused in front of a quaint restaurant.

"This is Karen's Café. I used to spend a lot of time here. She has the best food, and best coffee in the entire town." Haley said smiling, remembering all her time in that café.

"Great. Good coffee and food would be great right now." Dean said rubbing his stomach, and pulling Haley and Rachel through the door. Haley sat down with Rachel and Dean in a corner table, she felt nervous. She hadn't been in the café in around a year. It still looked the same.

"What can I get you?" Haley heard a familiar voice ask kindly.

"Can I have three coffee's and a 2 orders of fries and a order of mac and cheese?" Dean asked glancing at the menu and knowing exactly what everyone would want.

"Of course." Karen said writing the order down on a pad of paper. "Haley James?" she asked when she finished taking the order.

"Hi Karen." Haley said nervously.

"I miss you so much Haley. I heard about your book. Congratulations." Karen enthused, pulling the younger girl in for a hug.

"Thank you Karen. Its actually kinda nice to be home. I missed this place." she said returning the hug.

"Who are your friends?" Karen said, remembering the friendship between Haley and Lucas.

"This is Dean Winchester, my best friend. And this is Rachel Gatina, my other best friend. Guys this is Karen Roe, owner of this fantastic café and Lucas's mom." she introduced everyone.

"It's nice to meet you all." she said smiling and heading off to make their orders.

Once they were done their food and coffee, Haley, Rachel and Dean left the café and continued walking down the streets.

"It was so nice seeing Karen again. She is one of the people I missed most from here." she admitted.

The group ended up in front of Tree Hill High School.

"This is where I went to school." she said softly.

"It looks like a nice school." Dean said patting Haley's arm.

"It was. It had great teachers. A great tutoring program. I had great friends…." she trailed off, and Rachel and Dean looked at each other sympathetically. They continued to walk.

When they stopped again, Haley took a deep breath.

"This is the Rivercourt. I spent a lot of time here. I practically lived here, she said taking a seat on the bench. Dean and Rachel took their seats on either side of Haley. They watched as she got lost in her memories, knowing she just needed some time. Haley was remembering all the times she had here. She stayed lost in her thoughts until she heard a vehicle pull up on the grass. Haley's breath caught in her throat when she seen Nathan and Lucas step out of the truck.

"Dean, I need you to do something for me." she said panicking.

"Anything." he said.

"I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend." she begged.

"Alright. Don't worry about anything" he said reassuringly, while being slightly excited at being able to maybe prove that Haley should be with him. Haley felt Dean put his arm around her shoulder. Nathan and Lucas slowly approached the table.

To say that Nathan was shocked to see Haley and two others sitting at the Rivercourt would be an understatement. Nervously he and Lucas walked up to her. He glanced over at Lucas to see if he was as nervous as he felt. It was hard seeing someone you loved for the first time in a year. His heart was pounding at the possibility of maybe making Haley understand that what happened had been a giant misunderstanding. Nathan took a deep breath as he approached the table that Haley and her friends were occupying.

"Haley. I cant believe you're here." he said. Haley bristled at hearing her name fall from his lips.

"I'm here for my book signing." she said coldly.

"Congratulations about that by the way. I always knew that you would do something great." he told her.

"It's nice to have you home Hales. Can I talk to you for just a minute?" Lucas asked cutting in quickly.

"Fine." Haley said and she got up to follow Lucas away from the group.

"Haley. I am so happy you're home. Tree Hill hasn't been the same without you." Lucas said smiling.

"I'm only here for 9 days. After that I am going home to San Francisco, and then I'm packing up and going to Duke." she said coldly.

"Haley. I am so sorry about the argument. I have regretted it since you left, I just wanted to know if maybe we can be friends again. I mean, I took your advice, I thought about who I wanted to be with, I didn't know who it was, so I broke it off with them both. You were right Haley. Can we please be friends again?" he begged.

"Lucas, I don't know. I hated you for what you did to Brooke and Peyton. It wasn't fair to either of them. It's good that you did what you did, but we aren't friends anymore. We cant be friends now." she said before turning. Nathan seeing what happened between Haley and Lucas, walked over to Lucas and slapped his shoulder before going to talk to Haley.

"Hey, how are you?" he asked softly.

"Fine. How are you?" she asked politely.

"So how long are you here for?" he asked hoping for the longest time possible.

"9 days, I'm spending them showing Rachel and Dean around town." she explained.

"Okay, listen. What happened to us was a misunderstanding. You need to know this. What you heard me say was taken entirely out of context. I didn't mean anything about us, I was talking about my parents. Can you please forgive me. I miss you. I want to be with you." he begged her.

"Nathan I cant. You hurt me so bad, and I have spent the last year, trying to convince myself that I am worthy of a relationship. That some guy would eventually date me without having an ulterior motive. Plus, I'm seeing someone. I just thought that you should know." she said pressing her eyes shut.

"Who is he?" Nathan asked quietly.

"Dean. He is great. He treats me well, and I trust him wholeheartedly." she said.

"I'm happy for you Haley." he said unconvincingly.

"We could try to be friends." she offered seeing the dejected look on his face.

"Maybe." he said and she started walking back to her friends. Before she could get away, he grabbed her wrist pulling her back towards him.

"I'm the guy for you Haley James. You know it, I know it, and even that Dean guy knows it. But for now, I'll be your friend, because that's what you want. But just so you know, I am planning on winning you back. I'm the guy for you, always and forever." he told her before releasing her hand. In shock Haley walked back over to Rachel and Dean.

"Hales, is everything alright?" Rachel asked concerned

"Yeah, lets just get our of here." she said and led them away from the court.


	4. Chapter 4

"So that was the infamous Nathan Scott." Rachel said once the girls were settled back in their hotel room.

"That was Nathan. He is the one that broke my heart." she told her friend.

"Aw Hales. Come here." Rachel said wrapping her arms around her best girlfriend. Haley sobbed into Rachel's shirt, making it very obvious to Rachel that Haley was definitely not over Nathan.

"So what did you two talk about anyway? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Rachel asked her rubbing small circles on Haley's back.

"Um, he asked if I could forgive him. He told me if was all a misunderstanding. I told him that I believe him, but that I was still to hurt to consider being with him. But it hurt me so bad to imagine not having him in my life so I asked him if maybe he would want to be friends. He agreed, he told me that he would be whatever I wanted him to be." she said reiterating hers and Nathan's conversation.

"Hales, you either need to move on, or something." Rachel said sympathetically.

"I think we need to get out of here as soon as possible. Tree Hill is changing my perspective on things. I need to go home to San Francisco before I head off to Duke." Haley said.

Nathan and Lucas were still at the Rivercourt, going over their individual discussions with Haley.

"So what did you and Haley talk about?" Nathan asked Lucas curiously.

"She said she wasn't ready to forgive me. That we weren't friends anymore because I betrayed that friendship and she cant trust me anymore."

"That's harsh. But I got to be honest though, I'm kinda glad that my conversation with her went a little bit better than yours did." Nathan said.

"Oh, what did she say to you?" Lucas asked curiously.

"She said she believed me that it was a misunderstanding, but that we couldn't be together. But she said she was willing to be friends. And I will take whatever I can get. I still love her." Nathan told him.

"So have you given any thought to the college thing yet?" Lucas asked.

"Not yet. I was too busy trying to figure out what I was going to say to Haley when I saw her." Nathan admitted.

"Yeah. I guess I can understand that. Seeing Haley again is a dominant part of our lives. I know I missed her, and I know you missed her. Just don't forget that you have options." Lucas insisted.

Haley was laying on her bed in the hotel room when someone knocked at her door. She went and opened the door to find Dean standing there.

"Hey Dean. What's up?" she asked invited him into the room.

"Actually I was thinking. You know how you're pretending to date me so Nathan would leave you alone. I was thinking maybe you and I should go out for dinner tonight. Just us, like on a date?" he suggested, really hoping she would accept his invite. Dean was desperate to show Haley that she belonged with him. Being her pretend boyfriend for the next 9 days would be hard, but he would take whatever he could get.

"Dean, I was just planning on staying in tonight. I only need you to be my pretend boyfriend when Nathan is around. He needs to believe that I have moved on, so he wont try to fix things. I'm not ready for a relationship yet." she reasoned with him. Dean looked on dejectedly, before smiling.

"It's alright Hales. Just take your time. But you really do need to decide if you and Nathan are meant to be. You need to decide if your over him yet. You cant stay in this place that your in, where you are pretending to be over him." he said before leaving the room. Dean sighed as he walked back to his room. He prayed that eventually Haley would discover that it was Dean she was waiting for her whole life.

Rachel took a deep breath as she walked into Karen's Café. She was on a mission and needed some help. Rachel kept thinking to herself that she wasn't making a mistake, that she needed to do this for her friend.

"Can I help you?" Karen asked seeing Rachel standing in the middle of the café.

"Um, actually yes. I need to ask you a favour." she confessed.

"You're a friend of Haley's. So what is it?" she assured Rachel.

"I need Nathan Scott's address. I need to talk to him." she said.

"Oh. You doing some matchmaking?" Karen asked.

"No. He just needs to know what she's going through. He also needs to know that she isn't entirely over him. I need to tell him how much he hurt her, and how it will take a lot of effort on his part to make her trust him again." Rachel told Karen her plan.

"I know Nathan still loves her. He hasn't dated another girl since she left. Lucas is really worried about him." Karen confessed.

"I saw how much he loves her, in his eyes when he looked at her. I know how Nathan feels about Haley. I need to talk to him. Can you give me Lucas's address as well? I should talk to him as well." Rachel asked again.

"Sure. Both boys deserve to know what's going through her head. I'll just write the addresses down for you." Karen said pulling a napkin towards her and writing the two addresses on it.

"Here you are. The first one is Nathan's and the second is Lucas's. Good luck." Karen told her.

"Thank you so much. I need to do this because Haley isn't able to." Rachel said before turning to leave the café.

"Have a great day, Rachel. Good luck with your mission." Karen called as Rachel left.

Rachel took a deep breath when she pulled up in front of the house that Lucas lived in. She climbed out of the car and walked up the front sidewalk and rang the doorbell. A couple of seconds later, Lucas answered.

"Hi? Your Haley's friend right?" Lucas said confused as to why she would be on his front step.

"Yeah. I'm Rachel. I need to talk to you. About Haley?" she said. Lucas stepped aside and opened the door wider when he heard her mention Haley.

"What about Haley?" Lucas asked automatically concerned.

"I just wanted to talk to you. I wanted to explain that Haley's had a really rough year. It took her a long time to open herself up to having friends again. I was the first person she opened up to, Dean was the second. At first she didn't trust him even as a friend because of what you did to her. I know you didn't mean it, and deep down she knows it too. I would be surprised if she didn't forgive you sometime. It'll just take some time. You may not get back to where you were, but at least maybe sometime you might be able to be friends with her. You just need to show her you wont hurt her again." Rachel explained to him.

"Why did you just tell me all that?" Lucas asked.

"Because she doesn't know it yet, but she needs you. She wont fixed until she has everything she needs back in her life. Honestly, I think that's one of the reasons she chose to go to Duke next semester. She needed to be near home. It wasn't only because of the amazing scholarship they offered her. It was because she really misses this place." Rachel admitted.

Lucas just nodded, not knowing what to say. Rachel nodded at him, and stood up to go to Nathan's.

"Thank you for listening to me. You deserved to know what Haley is going through." she said before shutting the door and walking to her car.

"one down one to go." Rachel though to herself. Rachel drove to the second address on the napkin that Karen gave her. She ended up in front of an apartment building. She glanced at the number and climbed the stairs to find Nathan's apartment. She rang his doorbell and waited for him to answer. It took a little while but finally the door opened.

"Hello?" he said opening the door.

"I was just wondering if I could talk to you? You need to know a few things." she said hoping Nathan would relax his defensive stance.

"About?" he asked. He didn't really want to talk to someone who supporting Haley's decision to keep him at arm's length. Nathan was convinced that Haley knew that Nathan would never hurt her, and that even now a year later, he was still in love with her.

"Haley." Rachel explained using only the one word.

The name sent a jolt to Nathan's heart.

"Okay, come on in." Nathan said standing to the side to let Rachel in the apartment.

"So what about Haley?" he asked as soon as they were seated.

"She told me what she told you about just wanting to be friends. I know you are in love with her, I can see it in your eyes. That gives me the assurance I need to tell you what I'm here to tell you. Now keep in mind that you shouldn't capitalize on what I'm going to tell you because in the end its all Haley's choice. But I know that's she's not over you as much as she tries to make everyone believe otherwise. She hasn't opened up to a guy other than Dean since she moved to San Francisco. I know its because even though she's denying that you still hold a piece of her heart even if she is dating Dean. I love Haley, she is my best friend, and I want her to be happy. Just don't hurt her again, she deserves to be happy. I don't know if she'll ever feel that way for you again, all I know is she's not over you yet, which is why she hasn't fully opened her heart to anyone." Rachel admitted, unsure whether she was making the right choice.

"Thank you, for telling me that Rachel. It's nice to know what's going through her head, even when she's not open to discussing it with me." Nathan said.

"I just thought you would like to know. Just do what she says Nathan. I know Haley well, and I know that she closes up if someone moves too fast with her." Rachel warned up.

"I know. Remember I dated her before she moved. I plan on enjoying the friendship she offered me, since it was so much more than I had before." he told Rachel.

"Good. I'm going to go. I have to get back to Haley and Dean." she said getting up and going to the door.

"Oh and one more thing. I thought you would like to know that Haley is starting at Duke University in September. It'll give you more time to work on that friendship." Rachel said grinning.

"She's going to Duke." Nathan said to himself once Rachel walked out.

Nathan made a decision that afternoon once Rachel left. He knew he needed to tell Lucas, so he dialled his number and waited until he picked up.

"Hello?" Lucas said through the phone.

"Hey, its Nathan." Nathan greeted his brother.

"Hey, what's up?" Lucas said.

"Um, I just wanted to let you know, I'm taking your advice and going to community college." Nathan said excited.

"Wow. When did you decide this?" Lucas asked in shock.

"When I found out that Haley is going to Duke in September." he confessed.

"Well, at least something is getting you to go after your dreams." Lucas said proudly.

Nathan hung up and could finally start seeing his life turn around. He would try being Haley's friend, he would get an education, and get basketball back. His life was finally turning around.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry it took so long to update. I've been blocked and my internet rarely worked. As always i dont own anything one tree hill. i hope you enjoy this chapter, and i apologize for any mistakes, had no time to revixe. Read and Review, the more reviews i get, the more i want to update

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"Where were you?" Haley asked when Rachel arrived back at the hotel room.

"Um, I just went for a walk around Tree Hill. It was very relaxing." Rachel answered smoothly.

"Oh." Haley replied, turning back to the book she was reading. From across the room, she heard her cell phone vibrate. Curiously, Haley got up off the bed to check who contacted her. She opened her phone to find a text from Nathan.

"_Haley, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to hang out tonight at the café. We coule work on that friendship thing._

_Nathan_

Haley couldn't help herself from smiling when she read his text. Part of her really wanted to go, and another smaller part told her to stay in tonight. The larger part of her, told the smaller part to shut up, and she texted Nathan back.

"_Hey, sounds good. I'll meet you at the café at 8:00?" _

Haley patiently waited for a reply, and wasn't disappointed when only a couple seconds later the reply came.

_Sounds perfect. See you then." _

_Subconsciously, Haley grew more excited. She was excited to be spending time with Nathan again, even if it was just as friends. It would be nothing like the way it used to be for them, and that was a good thing. Haley didn't want things the way they used to be. Rachel glanced at Haley, and saw her smiling to herself. _

"_Hales, what's up? You're smiling." she noted. _

"_Um, yeah. I'm actually going to hang out with Nathan tonight. As friends." Haley said excitedly. _

"_ooh. Sounds fun. I guess I'll just spend the night here alone with Dean." Rachel said excited too. _

"_You sound really excited considering your just hanging out here with Dean tonight." Haley noted. _

"_Oh. Um, it's nothing." Rachel brushed it off, knowing it wasn't nothing. _

"_Whatever you say." Haley replied letting Rachel's actions pass by without further judgement. A few minutes of silence later, Dean stopped by to find out the plans for that night._

"_Hey girls. So what's on the agenda for tonight?" he asked. _

"_Actually, I'm going to hang out with Nathan tonight as friends. So its just you and Rachel here tonight." Haley told him, trying to contain her ever growing excitement. _

"_Oh, cool. That sounds really good." Dean said, trying to mask the feeling that tonight, it wasn't only friendship propelling Haley on this night out with Nathan. Dean usually wasn't a jealous person, but the idea of Haley spending the evening with Nathan, made him jealous. He only wished that Haley would realize that she felt the same way for him, as he did for her. It was hard being in love with someone who didn't love you back. _

_Nathan watched the clock, waiting for it to be time to go to the café. Willing the time to go faster, although watching the clock only served to make time go by even slower. _

"_This is endless." he muttered while watching the clock. He knew they were going out as friends, but he figured it was a step in the right direction in his mission to make her trust him again. He was taking any opportunity to show her that he, not Dean was the one for her. It would always be him, and no one could take his place in her heart. He hoped that was still true. _

_Haley was a couple minutes late. She had some issues deciding what to wear, she wasn't too sure on what to wear when going out as friends with your ex boyfriend. She ended up decided on a pair of jeans, a t shirt and some flip flops, not wanting to try too hard. Nathan was sitting at the café waiting, hoping she didn't decide to brush him off to spend time with the boyfriend. He knew that she had every right to do that, considering he had unintentionally broke her heart, with something he didn't even do. His breath caught in his throat as it always did, when she walked through the door. She looked terrific in her jeans and t shirt combination. But then she always looked terrific. _

"_Hey, sorry I'm late. I was reading and I lost track of time." she lied, not wanting him to know, she couldn't decide what to wear, which would imply something that this wasn't. _

"_It's fine. It's just like you to lose track of time, while caught up in a book." he told her smiling. _

"_I know. I'm a book worm, and always will be." she said smiling back at him. Her smile still paralyzed him, and he really hoped that would never change. _

_Meanwhile, Rachel and Dean were sitting in the hotel eating dinner. _

"_I cant believe she actually went out with him. I mean, he broke her heart, and she's willingly spending time with him, without bringing us along." Dean ranted. _

"_Their going out as friends. Nothing will happen." Rachel assured Dean, while feeling down that he's still so entirely focused on making sure Haley sees how he feels about her. _

"_How do you know? I mean, they dated once before, what happens if he sweet talks her into giving him another chance?" Dean asked worried. _

"_I know Haley. Besides if she decides to give him another shot, its because she still loves him. You need to let Haley deal with this all on her own. She'll make her own decisions in the end." Rachel told him. _

"_I know. But I've put a lot of effort forward to make her like me. I mean, Rachel, I have loved her since the moment I saw her walk up the front steps of our school a year ago. I knew I needed to be with her then. And I don't see that feeling changing." he said. Rachel felt her heart break a little, when she heard how much he loved Haley, but she didn't give up hope. He could still find out he loved her. _

_Lucas was sitting at home, contemplating his options. His best friend had once told him, he needed to pick one girl he wanted to be with. He had spent the evening sitting at home imagining his future, trying to see which girl he saw there. He thought about who he wanted next to him when all of his dreams come true. He smiled when he realized who it was that had taken his heart. He knew it all along, just couldn't admit it to himself. Lucas decided that his dream girl needed to know that she was the one. He needed to know if she could even forgive him for breaking her heart when he ended things with her. Lucas jumped off the couch, and ran out the door, not wanting to lose the nerve to talk to her again. It had been almost a year since the last time he talked to either Brooke or Peyton. Now it was time to talk to the one he was in love with. _

_He drove until he reached the house, got out of his car, and walked up the walk way. He pressed the doorbell once, to wait for her to answer. When he saw the door open, and he saw her face, she took his breath away. She always had. _

"_Lucas what are you doing here?" she asked shocked to see him. _

"_It's you. You're the one beside me when all my dreams come true." he said half whispering. _

"_Are you sure? I mean, you're not going to leave me again when randomly decide that your not sure if this thing between us is strong enough?" she asked quietly. _

"_No I promise you, I am here forever. I love you, and I'm just sorry it took me so long to realize it." Lucas said passionately. _

"_Lucas its been 9 months. It took you 9 months to realize you were in love with me." she said tears starting to fall from her eyes._

"_I know. I was stupid. I vacillated between thinking I wasn't good enough for you, to thinking maybe you'd moved on. But I love you, and I guess I understand if you met someone new." he said starting to feel discouraged. _

"_No, I haven't met anyone new. It'll always be you Lucas, I love you Lucas Scott." she said tearfully. _

"_I love you too, Brooke Davis." he said as he pulled the crying girl into his arms. Brooke sobbed in Lucas's arms for what felt like eternity, before she pulled away feeling embarrassed. _

"_I'm so sorry I did that Lucas. I shouldn't have let all of that out." she said blushing slightly. _

"_No, its okay Brooke. I want to be the shoulder you cry on when you're sad. But pretty girl, I have to go for a bit, there's something I need to do. I'll come back after I'm done." he told her kissing her forehead. _

"_Sure, see you later boyfriend." she said calling after him as he left. Lucas smiled at Brooke as he left, surprised at how right the decision felt. He felt perfect, that nothing could hurt him right now. _

_Nathan and Haley were talking about all the fun things they used to do. Haley was enjoying the conversation, there were still things that she didn't talk about with anyone else. Things that were solely about her relationship with Nathan, and she was surprised that that hadn't changed since his betrayal. She was happy they were attempting friendship though, because he was far too important to lose completely in her life. He meant a lot to her, even though he hurt her. _

"_Remember that time, in the school library, when the librarian kicked us out for laughing?" Nathan asked her laughing. _

"_Oh yeah. I still insist that it was entirely your fault we got kicked out." she told him. _

"_It was not all my fault. Sure, maybe I shouldn't have tickled you, but still you didn't need to scream so loudly." he defended himself. _

"_Well, I so wouldn't have screamed so loudly, if you hadn't started tickling my sides. You know that's my most ticklish spot." she told him glaring good naturedly. _

"_Let's just decide it was the libarian's fault because she didn't like people having fun." he suggested. _

"_No. She was just doing her job. I say its your fault. 100%." she said smirking. _

"_No, its both out faults. 50/50." he said. _

"_Why do you think that?" she asked. _

"_Because my tickling caused you to scream, which inevitably disturbed the entire library." he explained. _

"_Fine, I guess I will take some of the blame for that, just so we can move on to different conversation." she said giving in. _

"_Good." he said smiling. They talked like that continuously, reminiscing about all the great things they used to do together. _

_Lucas arrived at Peyton's house, he had decided that she had the right to know about him and Brooke. He still cared about Peyton, he just wasn't in love with her. He really hoped she wouldn't take it too hard. _

"_Lucas!" she answered the door, surprised to find him there. _

"_Hey Peyton. I just wanted to tell you that me and Brooke are back together. Just thought that you should know." he said nervously. _

"_I'm happy Lucas, because Brooke deserves to be happy, and besides I'm really happy right now. Me and Jake have been dating for 6 months now, and I have never been happier." she said smiling widely. _

"_Wow, Peyt, I'm really happy for you. You and Jake make a great couple. So I guess I'll see you around?" he said. _

"_Yeah, I'll see you around. Be good to Brooke, Luke. She deserves a stable relationship. She's my best friend." Peyton said seriously. _

"_I know. I love her too much to hurt her. I would never hurt her." he said passionately. _

"_Good. I will hurt you, if you hurt her." she said before shutting the door. Lucas walked back to his car, and drove back to Brooke's, very happy with his decision to be with Brooke. _

_Nathan walked Haley out to her car, after they were done talking. He really liked how well tonight went, she had really opened up to him it seemed. She was almost exactly the same as she used to be, and that reassured Nathan, that maybe she would be able to overcome what she thought he did to her. She turned to look at him before opening her car door. _

"_I had a great time tonight Nathan. We should do it again soon." she said happily. _

"_Yeah, he should. I had so much fun just talking to you tonight.. What are you doing tomorrow?" he asked eagerly. _

"_Um, nothing, as far as I know. Text me tomorrow, and we'll see." she said smiling at him. _

"_Sounds good." he said. Before she got in the car, he reached out and gave her a hug. The entire drive back to the hotel, she was tossed on that action. Part of her was scared of his touch, scared of how it made her feel, but on the other hand, she loved that he was confident enough to touch her. She loved feeling his arms holding her close. Haley had no idea which feeling was more dominant. _


	6. Chapter 6

this chapter isnt very good, for which i apologize. But it does what it needs to and sets up what happens in the upcoming 2 chapters. I dont own anything One tree hill, and this idea is courtesy of kaya17tj. Hope you enjoy, and please read and tell me what you think of it. i really appreciate all the reviews. Sorry for any mistakes, no time to revise.

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Haley laid in bed that night unable to sleep. She spent the night thinking about her evening with Nathan, and how normal it felt. It scared her that she still felt so comfortable around him.

"Haley go asleep. I can hear you thinking clear across the room." Rachel called out sleepily.

"How did you know I was awake?" Haley asked.

"Because your breathing didn't go all shallow, and you didn't randomly snore." Rachel said.

"I don't snore." Haley said adamantly.

"Not all the time, but you do snore every once in a while. We have had way too many sleepovers in the past year for me not to notice." she said laughing slightly.

"Yeah. Lets just get some sleep." Haley said.

"Yeah. What were you thinking about any way's Hales?" Rachel asked concerned, it wasn't often that Haley lied awake all night thinking about something.

"Nathan. And the way I felt when I was with him tonight." Haley admitted.

"How did you feel with him tonight?" Rachel probed.

"Happy. I felt the way I used to when we were together. I felt the love I have for him start to resurface." she admitted.

"You still love Nathan." she surmised.

"Yeah. I do. I don't think that'll ever change." she said sadly. Rachel smiled, she knew that Haley would never truly be happy with anyone other than Nathan, even if she wouldn't admit to herself.

Haley rolled onto her side, and closed her eyes. But even in her dreams, Nathan haunted her. She Rachel awoke the next morning to find Haley still sleeping soundly. Quietly she dressed and walked over to Dean's room. She quietly knocked and waited for him to answer.

"Rachel. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I need to talk to you about Haley." Rachel said.

"Oh, come on in." he said stepping aside to let her in the room.

"I think Haley still has feelings for Nathan. I know you intend on fighting for her, but just be careful. Don't hurt her in the process. If she chooses Nathan, be happy for her. If she chooses you, just be happy." she explained.

"I know Rachel. You think its easy for me to know that there is something in him that she loves. Something in him, that she doesn't see in me. I wouldn't ever hurt her, she's been through way too much already." he said solemnly.

"Good. Now I better go because I need to shower." she said before turning to leave.

"I'll see you later, Rach." he called after her. Rachel smiled as she was leaving. Haley was just waking up when Rachel walked back in the room.

"Where were you? I woke up and saw that you weren't here." Haley said.

"I was talking to Dean." she said.

"Oh. What did you two talk about?" she asked curiously.

"Mostly you. Haley can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked softly.

"Sure. What's on your mind Rachel?" she asked softly.

"How do you feel about Dean?" she asked.

"What do you mean? I mean, he's a great friend." Haley said confused.

"No. Romantically. How do you feel about Dean?" she asked.

"Oh. I have tried on several occasions to make me feel something for him, but I cant. He is stuck in just friends zone." she confessed.

"Oh! Now I need to confess something to you." Rachel said.

"What is it Rachel? I've never seen you so nervous." she said concerned.

"Don't hate me but I like Dean. I have for a long time, and I'm just too scared to admit it." she said cautiously gauging Haley's reaction.

"Rachel, that's great! You and Dean are perfect for each other." Haley said excitedly.

"You really think so?" Rachel asked hopefully.

"Of course. You two are perfect for each other." Haley said formulating a plan in her head.

Meanwhile, Nathan woke up for the first time in a long time filled with hope. He immediately picked up his phone and texted Haley.

_Good morning Haley. So what are your plans for today? _he sent.

Haley replied a couple minutes later.

_Nothing right now. Why? What do you have in mind? _she replied.

_Do you want to go out for lunch or something. We could even just hang out. Dean and Rachel could even come if you want. _he said grasping at straws for anything that would get her to agree to go out with him again.

_Where do you want to meet? _she replied again.

_You pick. _he said.

_We can start off at the café, and go on from there. _she suggested.

_Sounds good. Can Lucas and Brooke come too. They got together last night._ he asked.

_Sounds good. I'll see you there at 11?_ she asked.

_Perfect I'll see you there. Nathan replied before getting out of bed and heading for the shower. _

_Haley waited for Rachel to get out of the shower, so she could tell her the plan for today. When she finally emerged from the bathroom, Haley called her over. _

"_Rach I need to talk to you." she called._

"_What's up?" she asked. _

"_I am hanging out with Nathan, Brooke and Lucas today, so you have all day to spend just you and Dean. Sounds good?" she asked. _

"_Hales, you are the best!" Rachel squealed throwing her arms around her friends thin shoulders. _

"_But I really do need to get going. I decided a while back that since tomorrow is the signing, and the next day we fly back to San Francisco, I really need to see my dad. And I should probably do it alone." she said. _

"_Call if you need anything, Hales. I'm always here for you." she said. _

"_Thanks Rach." she said before grabbing her purse and the keys to the car they had rented here, and left the room. She ran into Dean on the way to the elevator. _

"_Hey, where are you going?" he asked. _

"_Um, to see my dad, then I'm hanging out with Brooke, Lucas and Nathan for the day." she said. _

"_You two are getting close quick." he observed. _

"_We're just hanging out." she quickly defended. _

"_It doesn't matter. Just go have fun Hales." he said dejectedly. _

"_I'll see you tonight sometime Dean." she called as she stepped into the elevator. Dean turned and walked in Rachel and Haley's room. _

_Haley took a deep breath as she pulled up in front of what used to be her house. She shut off the car, and walked up the front path. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. She tried peering in all the windows but the house was dark. Thankfully, Mrs. Anderson from next door chose now to step onto her porch. _

"_Haley James. It's so nice to see you my dear." the old woman called from her porch. _

"_You too, Mrs Anderson. Is my dad here?" she asked. _

"_Oh yes, he doesn't leave. He just sits in there and mourns the loss of you. The door isn't locked, just walk on in dear." she said. _

"_Thank you." she said. Haley slowly turned the doorknob. She opened the door, and noticed that it looked exactly the same as it did the day she left. _

"_Dad!" she called. _

_The house was silent for a moment. _

"_Dad?" she called again. _

"_Haley?" his voice called from the living room. _

"_Yeah dad, its me." she said. We walked into the living room, where he was nursing a bottle of vodka, drinking it right from the bottle. _

"_I'm so happy to see you Haley. I missed you so much." he said. _

"_You're drunk." she stated, hating seeing her dad like this._

"_Theres nothing else to do, but drink. I lost everything." he said. _

"_Your drunk. This isn't you. You know I was surprised when I walked in the house because it looked exactly the same as it did when I left, but then I walk in here, and it looks like this. Dad you have been living in filth like this for over a year. Look at all those bottles. I came here to see my dad, but this isn't him. Call me when you find that man." she said before turning and walking out of the house the same way she did a year earlier. _

_Haley managed to keep her tears in check until she got to the café. She sat in her car until the tears stopped flowing. No one else had arrived yet, since she was still a half hour early, so she took the table that her and Nathan had sat at the night before. She was only alone for a few minutes when she heard someone approach from behind her. _

"_Haley?" her dad asked. _

"_Dad, what are you doing here?" she asked. _

"_I wanted to apologize. And if you want me to change, I will change. I cant lose you again." he said. _

"_Don't change for me dad. Change because you want to." she said. _

"_I want to change, because I want to have you back in my life. I love you Haley, and I don't want to lose my baby girl again." he said. _

"_Okay, then change and I will give you another chance." she said. _

"_So are you waiting for someone, or can I stay for a bit longer." he asked. _

"_Lucas, Brooke and Nathan are coming, but you can stay for a while longer. They're not due to be here until 11:00." she said. _

"_That sounds great." he said. Haley and her dad talked about her life for a few minutes until Nathan showed up. He smiled when he saw her talking with her dad, and he hesitated until Jimmy looked up and smiled at him. He motioned for him to join them. Nathan took the seat to Haley's left and she smiled at him when he sat down. Jimmy looked from his daughter to Nathan, and back again. He could see the love there whether or not they admitted it or not. _

"_Well you two, I'm gonna leave you alone. I'm gonna go sit by the bar for a bit and chat with Karen for a bit." he said standing up to give them some space. Soon enough Brooke and Lucas arrived, and they were flanked in by Peyton and Jake. Haley smiled when she saw them all come in. _

"_Hey, its nice to see you all." she greeted everyone. She stood up and hugged Lucas, deciding that it was now time she let him off the hook. _

"_Luke, I want us to be friends again." she said simply. _

"_Really. I've missed you Hales." he said before hugging her again. The group talked animatedly, and Haley hadn't felt this happy in a long time. Every once in a while she could feel Nathan's arm grazing her own. And every time it did, it sent electric jolts through her skin. After they sat there for awhile, the group decided to go for a walk. They wandered through the parks and just talked and laughed. The later it got, the smaller the group got. First Peyton and Jake left, to go home and feed his daughter Jenny, and then later Brooke and Lucas left because they were in need of alone time. Finally it was just Nathan and Haley, somewhere during their walks, they ended up holding hands. She could feel herself falling again, and she couldn't stop herself. At this point she had up a protective wall shielding her emotions. She didn't want Nathan to see what she was feeling. Eventually they turned and started heading back to Karen's café. When they arrived to her car, she quickly unlinked their hands. _

"_Today was so fun Nathan. I cant believe I'm leaving the day after tomorrow." she said. _

"_Yeah. We havent hung out for this long since we first started dating." he observed. _

"_Yeah, I havent been out this late, since we dated. I mean, its almost 11:00, we spent 12 hours together." she rambled nervously. Nathan loved hearing her ramble, it was so Haley. He didn't know what compelled him to do it, but he slowly pressed his lips to hers, successfully stopping her ramble. Haley stood there in shock as Nathan kissed her, but shortly later, she responded and started kissing him back. _


	7. Chapter 7

Here is the latest chapter. I apologize for any mistakes, and for my hiatus from writing. I dont really like this chapter, so i hope you all like it better than i do. this idea is courtesy of Kaya17tj and her brilliant mind. Let me know if you like it.

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After they broke the kiss, Haley jumped into her car and drove away. She didn't know what just happened, she knew the feelings were still there, but that didn't mean that they could get back together. That didn't mean that she wanted things to go back the way that they were before. When she got back to the hotel she walked into hers and Rachel's room to find then cuddled up on one bed together watching a movie. Seeing her come in, Dean moved off to the side and removed his arm from around Rachel's shoulders.

"It's okay you guys. You guys would make an amazing couple. I just need to get some sleep before the signing tomorrow morning." she said climbing into her bed. She knew that sleep was going to be unattainable tonight because every time she closed her eyes Nathan's face and their kiss popped into her mind.

Dean didn't know what happened, one minute he was sitting on the opposite side of the bed from Rachel, and the next thing he knew, he was on her side of the bed with his arms around her. He had no idea how that happened, and then Haley walked in to see that. She wasn't upset though, which strengthened the though in his hand that she wanted to be just friends with him. She had been ridiculously enthusiastic about he possibility of them being together. Dean had never thought of being with Rachel. Sure she was beautiful, and smart, and an amazing friend. Was it possible that he cared for Rachel as more than just friends?

Haley woke the next morning to a text from Nathan. She sighed and ignored the message. She had decided last night that if she was to get on with her life she had to forget him. But it seemed like that was going to be easier said than done. A few minutes later he texted her again.

"Haley are you up? Just wanted to say good luck with the signing today. I'll be there to get my copy signed." he sent her.

Haley chose to ignore that one too, and got up to shower. She stayed in the shower for longer than was necessary, letting the hot water calm her nerves. She was nervous about the signing, but was also scared of seeing Nathan if he got tired of her ignoring his texts. When she got out of the shower, she noticed there was 8 unread messages. She smiled when she saw Dean curled up beside Rachel sleeping soundly. She didn't want to wake them, but the signing was in an hour and she needed them there for moral support. She walked over to Rachel's side of the bed and shook her lightly.

"Rach? Time to wake up. The signing is in an hour." she said when Rachel opened her eyes.

"Oh! Dean wake up! Signing in hour! Go to your room to get ready!" she said shoving him out of the bed.

Haley smiled as Rachel shoved Dean out of bed and out the door before running into the bathroom. While Rachel was in the bathroom, Haley's phone rang again, this time Nathan was calling. Haley knew she could avoid him forever so she answered.

"Hello." she greeted.

"Hey. How's it going?" he asked.

"Okay." she said.

"Haley are you okay? You've been weird since our kiss last night." he told her.

"I know. It's just that it was a mistake. It shouldn't have happened. I shouldn't have went out with you. It brought back feelings that were supposed to be gone. We cant be together anymore, I live in San Francisco, and you live here. It just wouldn't work out. I need to forget you, and that kiss moved me so far in the opposite direction its not even funny. I'm back to where I was when I first moved to San Francisco. But I have to go, I have to get ready for the signing." she said tears starting to fall.

"Haley-" he started to say, but she hung up before he could say anything else. Haley put her head in her hands and cried until Rachel came out and saw her.

"Haley, are you okay?" she said sitting beside her and putting her arm around her shoulders.

"I'm fine. I just had to end things with Nathan again." Haley admitted.

"Why?" Rachel asked knowing how Haley felt about Nathan.

"because I live in San Francisco and he lives here." Haley answered.

"That's not the truth Hales and you know it. You're going to Duke in a couple months." Rachel told her.

"Fine. I'm too scared to be hurt again. He hurt me so bad, and I'm afraid of being vulnerable again. It took me so long to get to where I am now, and I'm still not the same person I was before. I'm too scared to let him in again." she said crying.

"Hales, sometimes you have to take a risk to get the biggest rewards. You know that Nathan's betrayal wasn't on purpose, it was a misunderstanding on all levels. Take that into consideration." Rachel said standing up and pulling her friend to her feet. Haley glanced at her watch.

"I guess its time to go huh?" Haley said wiping her eyes so she looked normal again.

"Yeah, lets go." Rachel said grabbing Haley's arm and leading her to the door where Dean was waiting on the other side.

"Ladies" he said offering his arms out to the girls. Haley plastered a fake smile on her face as she followed Dean and Rachel out to the car.

Haley had a steady line of people waiting to get their book signed. She was pleased with the turnout. She saw Nathan waiting off to the side, and knew he was going to trap her into speaking with him. He was good at that, and if he wanted to talk to her, she would have to talk. He deserved an explanation in person instead of just over the phone. As her line started to dwindle down, as the last few people got their books signed Nathan started moving closer.

"We need to talk." he said when the last person set off on his way.

"I know." she said following him away from the table.

"Haley I love you. I don't want to lose you again." he said out of the blue.

"Nathan, I cant be with you. It's too hard. I'm too scared to let you in again, because you hurt me so bad. My heart cant take that kind of pain again. I barely got through the last time" she told him.

"You wont feel that again, I will never hurt you again Haley. You can trust me." he said passionately.

"if you don't want to hurt me ever again, then why are you doing this? Not giving me what I need is hurting me." she said pulling away from his grasp.

He pulled his hand away from her arm and watched her walk away.

Haley could believe she could say something like that. She knew he would never hurt her intentionally. But now that it was over, she couldn't understand why she felt worse than before.

"It doesn't matter. Tomorrow I will be back in San Francisco, and it will be over for good." she told herself. But a large part of her heart recognized the lie.

Nathan was sitting at home in his apartment with Lucas.

"She never wants to see me again Luke, I don't know what to do." he said.

"Nate, she doesn't mean that. She's just scared." Lucas assured him.

"Yeah. But she's going home tomorrow, and I don't have the chance to show her jut how much she means to me." he said.

"She needs the big gesture. You need to do something that shows that she means everything to you." Brooke said.

"I have to think of something before she leaves tomorrow." he said more to himself that to anyone else.

Rachel sat on the edge of Haley's bed, as she cried herself to sleep that night. She had never seen anything like this before, this was even worse than when they had first became friends. Haley cried herself so sleep then too, but it hadn't been this bad. Rachel stroked her hair as Haley clutched the pillow tightly to her chest. Eventually her eyes closed and she fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning as Haley packed her suitcase, she tried to reason with herself that she was making the right choice.

"Hales, this isn't right. You cant leave it like this. You love Nathan, you want to be with Nathan. You should give it a chance. You'll never get another opportunity like this again." Rachel said.

"Yeah sort of like you're chance with Dean?" Haley fired back.

"Me and Dean are giving it a shot. You don't have that excuse Hales. You have to give Nathan another shot. He made a mistake, and it wasn't even his fault. He did nothing wrong, and you still wont give him another shot." Rachel argued.

"whatever." Haley sighed and zipped her suitcase up, rolling it to the door. Rachel got up and followed her, since their plane would be taking off in a couple hours. Just long enough to get to the airport and find their terminal. The girls met Dean on their way down and he didn't say anything seeing the sad look on Haley's face.

The drive to the airport was silent, no one knowing what to say. Rachel constantly glanced back to the backseat to see Haley leaning against the window with her eyes closed, seemingly trying to push thoughts from her head.

"Hales, you have to talk to him. We both know that you love him, and that's good. Just please give him another chance, for us. " Dean said.

"I cant Dean. It's too hard." she said before turning her head back to the window.

When they finally got to the airport, both Dean and Rachel were about tired of Haley's depression. They were sitting together waiting for their plane to be called. Haley was sitting with her face in her hands crying again, while Dean and Rachel were sitting close together with their hands entwined. When their plane was announced over the intercom she got up and walked over to the gate, Rachel and Dean were following closely behind her still holding hands. While walking over there, all those little moments she shared with Nathan appeared in her head. Every tender touch or kiss, to every kind or romantic word, and Haley stopped walking.

"Guys. I cant get on that plane. I cant do it. I need Nathan. I love Nathan. I want to be with him." she said smiling.

"Go." Dean said. Rachel hugged her best girlfriend as they walked towards the gate and Haley turned to walk in the opposite direction.

Lucas dropped Nathan off at the airport and looked at him concerned.

"Are you sure you want to do this Nathan?" Lucas asked.

"I have to. It may be the only way to get Haley back." Nathan said.

"Okay. But I'm sure going to miss you little brother, make sure you keep in touch when your living in sunny California." he said hugging his brother.

"Tree Hill will always be my home." he said as he grabbed his bag from the backseat and walked into the airport.

He wasn't watching where he was going and he collided with someone who was moving very quickly through the airport.

"Whoa, I'm sorry" he said.

"Hello Nathan." Haley said unsure of what else to say.

"Haley. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was about to ask you the same question?" she said glancing at his suitcase.

"I was making a big gesture and moving to San Francisco to be with you." he said.

"I am making a big gesture too, and moving back to Tree Hill." she said smiling at the smile that graced his features at that.

"You're moving home?" he asked.

"I'm moving home. I missed the place too much." she said.

"Is that the only reason?" he asked.

"No. I love you Nathan. I want to be with you. I realized when I was about to board the plane that I couldn't live through leaving you again. I need to be with you." she said taking his hands.

"I love you more Haley James." he said before leaning over to kiss her softly.


	8. Chapter 8

here is just a fluffy chapter. hope you enjoy it. Thank you again to Kaya17tj for the idea. hope you're enjoying reading it as much as i'm enjoying writing it. Please review, even if its just to say great chapter.

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Hand in hand they walked out of the airport. It was when they got out to the parking lot that they realized that they had no way home.

"Quick question. How are we getting home?" Haley asked

"I don't know. I could call Lucas." he suggested. Haley nodded and Nathan pulled out his cell phone.

"Damn. It's dead. Now what do we do?" he asked.

"Well it doesn't matter. We are here together. Why don't we just walk. It will give us some time alone together." she said smiling up at him.

"That sounds great. But you do realize that it will take us over an hour to get back into town." he said glancing at her to gauge her reaction.

"Sounds good to me." Haley said, reaching up to kiss him softly.

"Great. Lets go." Nathan said linking his fingers through hers and pulling her towards the highway.

Lucas sat at Brooke's house, relaying all his troubles on her.

"You know, I just cant believe that he's gone. He moved to San Francisco to be with Haley, and for that I cant really blame him. It's just funny, now I'm going to miss him. I mean Haley leaving united us in a way that her being here never did." Lucas said, already missing his brother.

"Are you saying that you wish Haley didn't come back?" Brooke asked trying to decipher what Lucas was saying.

"No. I missed Haley a ton, but I'm also going to miss Nathan. I remember before Haley left, me and Nathan weren't on speaking terms. Worse than that, he hated me. Now he's one of my best friends." Lucas said.

"I know. But think of it this way. He'll be home in a couple months since he's going to school here. He wont be gone as long as Haley." Brooke consoled her boyfriend.

"I know. Thank you Brooke. It's moments like this that make me remember why I fell in love with you. I love you Brooke Davis." he said taking her hand which still rested on his shoulder.

"I love you too." Brooke said smiling, and leaning into Lucas.

Walking along a long expanse of highway, Nathan still held Haley's hand tightly.

"Regretting his walk yet?" Nathan asked after they had been walking for 45 minutes.

"Not yet. Although I think its because I'm with you." she said smiling up at him.

"Really?" Nathan asked smirking.

"Yeah. Although I don't think I'll be able to stand tomorrow. My feet hurt so much." Haley complained.

"I could carry you." Nathan offered.

"Oooh. That sounds nice." Haley sighed. With that he leant down and Haley hopped up onto his back.

"Ah much better." she sighed wrapping her arms around his neck.

"That's good. Although I'm cant complain about your close proximity to me, either. It's a win-win." Nathan said kissing her hand.

"I love you." Haley said, kissing the side of his neck, as they continued their journey home.

A little while later, Nathan put Haley back down, as they made it to his street.

"I really need to drop you now. My legs are going to collapse." he panted.

"Well we're almost to your apartment arent we?" she asked realizing she had never been there before. They walked hand in hand a little further until Nathan came to a stop.

"This is it." he said pointing to a door.

"A lot different than you're parents house." Haley mused.

"Yeah. But its mine. And I love having my own space." he said. He opened the front door and led Haley inside.

"I should call Lucas, let him know I'm still here." Nathan said picking up his phone. After Nathan hung up, he sat on the couch and put his arm around Haley's shoulder.

"Is Lucas happy your staying?" Haley asked.

"Yeah. But I don't want to talk about Lucas right now." Nathan said leaning in closer to her.

"No, so what do you want to do?" Haley asked her face inching closer and closer to Nathan's.

"I want to kiss you again." Nathan said.

"Well if you have to." she said before he fastened his lips to hers. They kissed for a while longer, before reluctantly Haley pulled away.

"I really have to go. I should go spend some time with my dad. Although this is good too." Haley said kissing him once more.

"Just go. I'll see you later." he said laughing.

"I'll see you later. I love you." she said before walking out. Nathan leaned back on the couch, and wondered how his life got so good. It was only a couple seconds later that Haley returned.

"Can you drive me? I have no ride home." she said.

" Of course." he said grabbing his keys and taking Haley's hand to lead her to her car.

Haley walked into her house a few minutes later, after sitting in Nathan's car kissing him for a few minutes.

"Dad?" Haley called out.

"Haley?" Jimmy called back, walking to greet his daughter.

"Yeah. I'm home." she said walking into her fathers outstretched arms.

"You're home? What do you mean?" he asked clutching his daughter to his chest.

"I'm home to stay until I go to Duke in September." she said burying her face in her fathers chest.

"Thank God. Oh how I've missed you. I'm so happy you're home. Have you talked to your mother?" Jimmy fired questioned.

"No I haven't talked to mom since I decided to stay here." she answered, unwinding herself from her fathers arms.

"Oh. So what are the plans for tonight? Do you want to do anything special?" Jimmy asked.

"Actually. I was hoping we could just hang out here, and Nathan could come over. I know since technically I am an adult, so I don't need your permission to bring my boyfriend over, but since it is your house. Is it alright if Nathan joins us this evening?" Haley rambled.

"Oh. You and Nathan are back together? That's wonderful. He can come over, just no funny business." Jimmy warned.

"Thanks Dad." Haley said before going upstairs to call Nathan.

Once she was upstairs for 15 minutes Jimmy noted that it sure took a long time nowadays to ask someone if they wanted to come downstairs. When she finally made an appearance, Jimmy noted the smile stretched across her beautiful face.

"Have a good chat?" Jimmy asked curiously.

"Yeah. He knows just what to say to make me smile. He always has." Haley said smiling.

"What time is he coming over?" Jimmy asked.

"Soon. What are we having for dinner?" she asked trying not to lapse into an awkward conversation with her father.

"I thought about ordering pizza. Is that alright with you?" Jimmy asked.

"Oh yeah. Pizza's great." Haley enthused.

"Alright." Jimmy replied, lapsing into the silence, Haley was hoping to avoid. She had no idea what to say to break the silence. There really wasn't anything she could say. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long because the door bell rang, which was a sure sign that Nathan was here. Happily she jumped up and skipped over to the door.

"Let me guess, Nathan?" Jimmy muttered, somewhat upset that his first night at home with his daughter was to include her boyfriend.

Haley opened the front door to Nathan's smiling face.

"Hey." she said softly.

"Hey. How are you?" he asked equally as softly, while reaching a hand up to stroke her face.

"Good. Its even better now that you're here. Wont be quite as awkward anymore." she said softly.

"yeah. Now I need to kiss you, and it'll probably be better if I do it here, rather than in the living room with your father." he said bending down to press his lips to hers. His tongue grazed her bottom lip, and happily she opened her mouth to him.

"Are you kids coming in or what?" they heard Jimmy call from the living room. Haley broke the kiss embarrassed, realizing how close it was to Jimmy catching them. Nathan shot her a smirk, then took her hand and led her into the living room where Jimmy was waiting.

"Nathan. Nice to see you again." Jimmy greeted.

"Nice to see you too Jimmy." Nathan greeted back. Nathan took the seat right beside Haley, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Jimmy watched the young couple with interest. He chose not to say anything, he just opted to watch and listen to everything that Nathan and his daughter did. Trying to understand their relationship. After a little while the doorbell rang again.

"Pizza's here." Jimmy declared getting up off the couch to get it.

"Oooh yum pizza." Nathan enthused.

"That's what I thought too." Haley said laughing.

The trio ate in a semi comfortable silence, then retired into the living room to watch movies. About halfway through the movie, Jimmy started nodding off.

"Kids, I'm going to go to bed now. I'll see you in the morning Hales." he said.

"Goodnight Daddy." she said.

"Goodnight sweetie." he replied before heading up the stairs. Nathan and Haley sat on the couch for a while longer, before Haley took his hand and lead him upstairs.

"Are we going to your bedroom?" Nathan asked suggestively.

"Yes. But not for the reasons you think we are." she said.

"Oh. And what reason are we going in here?" Nathan asked.

"Well, its more comfortable than the couch. Thought it would give us a chance to talk a little. Make out a lot." she said smirking.

"I like the sound of that." Nathan said tackling her onto the bed.

"Ahh, Nathan." she squealed, as he attacked her neck.

Jimmy could hear the giggles and squeals coming from his daughters door. Instantly he went into responsible daddy mode, and walked to his daughter's door, before pushing it open. He saw his daughter sprawled out on her bed, with her boyfriend hovered above her, tickling her sides. She was laughing and begging so hard.

"Nathan, please stop." she begged.

"What do you say?" he asked deviously.

"I cant say it." she said. Nathan kept up his steady stream of tickles.

"Okay, okay okay. I'll say it." she said giving in.

"Okay." he urged her on, still tickling her slightly.

"Nathan Scott, is the hottest,, sexiest man on the planet. He is the star of all my dreams. He is the best. No one can top him." she muttered.

"Score!" he said before rolling to the side to cradle Haley in his arms. That evening they fell asleep in each others arms. Both having the best sleeps they had had in a long time.


	9. Chapter 9

here is a short and sweet fluffy chapter. hope you enjoy it. Read and review :)

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"I cant believe I just spend the night in your arms with my father just down the hall. After the strict no boys in the bedroom policy he gave me before I moved out." she whispered.

"I know. You are in so much trouble if you get caught You are such a bad girl." he teased.

"Am I now? What do you intend on doing about that?" she asked.

"Hmmm I don't really know. It'll have to be subtle though because I really don't want to be banned from your house for life." he said smirking. "Yeah. Then I would have to wake up all alone every morning. You are much better to wake up to." she said kissing him softly.

"I can hear your dad. We should get up so I can sneak out." they whispered.

"There's no need to sneak out Nathan. I know your there. I can hear you two whispering." Jimmy called from the hallway.

"Oh my God. This is so embarrassing." Haley said hiding under her blankets.

"I'll be downstairs, and you two better be downstairs in 5 minutes or else I'm coming in." he called before walking down the stairs. Nathan laughed as Haley slowly pulled herself out from under her covers.

"That was humiliating. How am I supposed to face him now?" she asked.

"Well at least he didn't hear us having sex." he ventured.

"Shhh. Don't say that out loud, these walls are thin. Besides we didn't have sex." she said turning a deep shade of red.

"I love your blush." he said stroking her cheek.

"And we better get downstairs before dad comes up to get us." Haley said getting out of bed. Hand in hand they ventured down the stairs and into the kitchen where her father was waiting.

"So did you two have a fun night?" he asked glancing at them.

"we just talked and had a tickle war, which Nathan won." deciding on honesty.

"I know. I heard the squeals coming from your room last night and decided to investigate." he said wryly.

"Why?" she asked.

"I was worried about my daughter. I didn't like the sounds coming from your room." he defended himself.

"Now that I am completely humiliated, I am going to send Nathan on his way and I am going to spend the rest of the day in my bed." she said standing up and taking Nathan's hand to pull him towards the door.

"You are really making me leave?" he whispered.

"Yes. You caused me way to much embarrassment today." she said.

"Oh fine. But I think you should come over tonight and see me. I might get too lonely without you beside me." he said kissing her softly.

"We'll see." she said before turning and shutting the door in his face.

"So what are your plans for today?" Jimmy asked his daughter.

"Nothing much. I was just going to hang out in my room today." she said.

"Okay that's fine. But I wanted to talk to you for a minute." he said gesturing for her to sit down.

"Okay. What's up?" she asked feeling leery about this particular conversation.

"Now I know that you are legally an adult but I still don't like the idea of you fooling around with a boy. And I especially don't want to see or hear it in my house. You're pseudo innocent tickle fight last night was almost too much for me to take. I don't want to see it. I don't want to hear it. If you want to fool around with your boyfriend, go to his house. But please please please, use protection. I am not ready for grandkids." he said.

"Did you just have a sex talk with me?" she asked mortified.

"Kind of. I know I don't have to go into details with you. But please just be careful. There are many things you have to worry about." he said.

"Dad please stop. I have already had this talk. I don't need it again. I'm gonna go upstairs and go to sleep. At this point I don't know if I ever want to see Nathan again after this morning." she said.

"That's good. Less chance of grandkids running around." he called after her.

Haley plopped down on her bed and just laid there. She could hear her dad laugh downstairs. He clearly got some perverse pleasure out of torturing her like that. She laid on her bed in silence until she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She saw that it was a text from Nathan.

"what are you doing babe?" he wrote.

"Lying on my bed, wallowing in self pity." she replied.

"sounds boring as hell. Would be much more fun if I were in that bed with you." he wrote.

"Uh huh. I'm sure it would be. My dad told me that if I ever want to fool around with you in any manner it has to be at your house." she said.

"Oooh. Well we can fool around by text message. What do you think?" he asked.

"How do you go about fooling around via text message?" she asked.

"Like this. So what are you wearing?" he asked.

"Um jeans and a t shirt." she replied.

"Oh you are so not making this easy. I have an idea, why don't you come over here, and we can fool around in person." he wrote.

"I'll come over later and I'll probably spend the night if its okay with you?" she replied.

"A chance to sleep with you alone in my apartment? Hell yes." he said.

"Good I'll see you later today. I miss you already." he wrote.

"I miss you too. But I better go downstairs and spend some time with my dad before I come to see you. I'll see you later." she wrote before placing her phone on her night stand and heading downstairs.

"Hey Hales. What are you up to." her dad asked glancing up when he heard her come in the room.

"Just coming to watch tv with you for a while before going to spend the rest of the day with Nathan." she said.

"Ah. Sounds fun. What are you two going to spend the day doing? Oh wait I probably don't want to know." he said dismissing his question.

"I honestly don't know. But I'm not sure if I'm gonna come home. I may just stay at Nathan's." she said. They watched TV for a while longer before Haley decided she was going to head out.

"I'm gonna go, I'll see you later dad." she said.

"Okay. If I don't see you tonight I'll just assume your sleeping at Nathan's" he said.

"Okay. Bye dad." she said before walking out the door.

"Use protection!" her dad shouted at her before she closed the door.

Nathan was sitting by his window waiting for Haley to show up. When he saw her car pull up, he ran to the door to wait for her. He had the door open before she could even knock. He took her in his arms and pulled her inside.

"I missed you. I want to kiss you so bad." he said.

"Then do it." she said. He leaned down and kissed her passionately. He led her over to the couch and sat down pulling her onto his lap. She eventually broke away with a desperate need for air, but his lips never left her skin. He stated moving down her neck. She moaned slightly when he found a spot on her neck and started sucking on it.

"You're gonna leave a mark." she panted.

"I know. I want everyone to know your mine." he said alternating between nibbling and sucking her neck. After a few more minutes of making out furiously Haley pulled away, knowing she was getting in too deep.

"Cant we slow down?" she asked panting.

"If you want to." he said.

"Yeah. I need to slow down. I'm not ready to go any further yet." she said.

"Okay." he said, and she moved off his lap to sit right by his side. She snuggled into his side and they watched sappy movies for the rest of the afternoon.


	10. Chapter 10

hope you all enjoy. read and review. i love hearing what you guys have to say.

PS i own nothing.

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Haley woke the next morning nestled in Nathans arms to the sound of her phone ringing loudly.

"Ugh." she said as she untangled herself from Nathan's arms.

"Where are you going?" he asked groggily.

"My phone is ringing. I need to answer it." she said.

"Ignore it. I don't want you to move." he said.

"No can do. I have to answer it." she said getting out of his embrace and making it to her phone before it stopped.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey Haley bop. Just calling to tell you that I just got off the phone with your mom and she just landed in Tree Hill. She wants a ride to her hotel asap." he told her.

"You talked to mom?" she asked.

"Not really. She just told me to call you because her phone was about to die. And that she expects a ride home." he told her.

"Okay. Nathan and I will go pick her up. Just let us get up and dressed." she said.

"Okay. I don't want to hear the words get dressed from my daughter when she just spent the night with her boyfriend." Jimmy said.

"sorry. But what I meant was that he needed to change into jeans and s t shirt instead of what I wore to bed." Haley explained.

"whatever. Just get your mother." he said closing the discussion.

"Alright. By dad." she said before hanging up. Haley walked back over to the bed and crawled up beside Nathan. She laid her head in the crook of his neck.

"who was on the phone?" he asked curiously.

"My dad telling me to go to the airport and picking up my mom, whose plane just landed there." she explained.

"Oh. Okay I guess I'm coming with you." he said getting out of the bed.

"Great. I was hoping you would say that." she said smiling at him.

"Well it's the least I can do for the woman I love." he said smiling at her.

"I love hearing you say you love me. Besides I know my mom isn't happy with me for moving back here. She sees it as some sort of obscure betrayal. Like she helped me get away from everyone after it happened and now I am back here putting everything behind me. Rachel called and said she was pissed." Haley said.

"Well I'll be by your side." he said leading her out of the apartment to his car.

"I love you." she said climbing into the car where he held the door for her.

When they pulled into the airport parking lot there was still no sign of Lydia.

"Where is she?" Haley wondered.

"Well its only been 20 minutes since you're dad called and her plane had just landed so it could be a few minutes." he told her.

"Well I guess we didn't have to hurry when we left the house then huh? I could've kissed you a little bit before we left." she said.

"well, we are in the privacy of my car, so we can kiss a little bit right now." he suggested.

"Yeah, we could. But I think we should wait inside." she said.

"can we kiss in there?" he asked.

"Sure. I really want to kiss you." she told him.

"Good because I really want to kiss you too. Even though amount we kissed last night should've sustained us for a while." he said.

"It should've but it didn't." she said as she pulled him towards the chairs in the lobby of the airport. Haley was surprised at how packed the lobby was. Nathan chose a chair in the middle of the lobby that Lydia was sure to see them at, and pulled Haley onto his lap. He was happy that their were no other empty seats, because then it was acceptable to have his girlfriend on his lap. She instantly pressed her lips to his softly. It was unspoken that their make out session would remain PG rated. He kissed her tenderly, and Haley loved the feeling of his lips on hers. This wasn't their most intense make out session, but it felt different. All the love that he had for her came through his kisses.

"I love you." he whispered against her lips.

"I love you more." she said.

"Excuse me?" Haley heard a voice call.

"Hi mom." she said tearing her lips away from Nathan's.

"Hi Mrs James." Nathan said.

"Hello dear, Nathan." she greeted the two young lovers. Haley stood up and waited for Nathan to take her hand, they then led Lydia back out to the car.

"So let me get this straight dear. You move back here, get back together with your boyfriend and make things right with you father and best friend." Lydia said.

"Yeah. I am much happier than I was in San Francisco, and it made sense, I'm going to Duke in a couple months. I had to move back sometime." she reasoned.

"I know dear. Where are you living anyways?" she asked.

"Technically with Dad but I spend most nights with Nathan whether at dad's house or Nathan's apartment." she explained.

"So how are you Nathan?" she asked.

"I'm great now. But things got dark for me for a while after Haley left. But when I read her book and I found out why she left. I vowed to somehow explain to her what really happened. Then she came home and I vowed that I would get her to fall for me again." he explained.

"You two are really in love huh?" Lydia asked.

"Completely." Haley responded placing her hand on Nathan's arm.

"Well, I'm happy Haley. You deserve happiness. And I hope you find more happiness with the person you love than I did with the person I loved." she said. They drove the rest of the drive in silence until they arrived at the hotel.

Once they dropped Lydia off at the hotel, Nathan and Haley drove back to his apartment. It was still early, so they decided to cuddle up on the couch and watch TV.

"Are you staying here tonight?" he asked.

"It's still early. I have lots of time to decide that. Who knows, I might not like you anymore by bed time tonight." she said grinning.

"You always like me whether you admit it or not." he told her smirking.

"That's not true. I don't really like you right now." she said.

"Oh really?" he asked trailing a hand down her stomach.

"Yeah." she said shivering when his hand came into contact with her bare skin.

"Yeah. You like me Haley James." he said firmly.

"Fine I like you. But you have to kiss me right now." she said. Instantly he fastened his lips to hers, he trailed his tongue against the seam of her lips and she parted them willingly.

"I like how good you are at that." she muttered breathlessly.

"Oh really. How would you like to do it on a more permanent basis?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"Well, I know that we havent been back together that long. But we are going to college soon, you'll be at Duke and I'll be at the community college very close to there. I was thinking that we could move in together. I want to live with you, I want to wake up next to you every morning. Preferably for the rest of my life. Haley will you move in with me?" he asked vulnerably.

"You actually want me here always?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes." he answered without hesitation.

"You wont get tired of having me around?" she asked.

"Definitely not. The year you were in San Francisco was enough of a separation to last me a lifetime." he told her.

"Then yes, I will move in with you." she answered throwing her arms around his neck.

"Now to tell you're parents." Nathan said breaking the mood.

"Thank you for reminding me. Let's do it now." she suggested.

"Okay, lets get this over with." Nathan said standing up and walking out to his car.

A few minutes later they were parked outside of Haley's house.

"Are you ready for this?" he asked.

"No." she answered truthfully.

"Lets just remember that we're not confessing to a murder, we're just moving in together." he assured her.

"That's easy for you to say, its not you're parents we're telling." she said.

"Let's go." he said pulling out of the car. Haley opened the door and called to her father.

"Dad. I'm home.." she called.

"Oh! Haley! Umm just a second." he called obviously flustered.

"Dad are you okay?" she asked concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just one second please." he called.

"Jimmy where's my blouse?" Haley heard a mystery voice say. Haley's mouth dropped, she had no idea that her father was seeing someone. A couple minutes later Jimmy and the mystery woman stepped out of the living room. Haley instantly recognized the woman as the one she had seen in a passionate embrace with her father the day she moved away.

"Who is this?" she asked icily.

"This is Marilyn. My girlfriend. You have met her before unfortunately." he said quietly.

"Hello, my name is Marilyn, its nice to meet you Haley." Marilyn greeted Haley happily.

"You as well." she said icily while shaking the woman's hand.

"I didn't expect you to be home already." Jimmy said breaking the awkward silence filling the room.

"I bet. This has become a pattern of sorts, me walking in on you and you're resident whore in a passionate setting." Haley said seething. Nathan ran his hand up and down her back to soothe her.

"Haley that's not fair. Marilyn has done nothing to you." Jimmy argued.

"Except break up my damn family and cause me to lose everything I cared for. She technically lost me a year of being with Nathan." Haley said.

"I am going to go elsewhere. I will see you later honey." Marilyn said kissing Jimmy on the lips before walking out.

"Let's go sit down." Jimmy suggested.

"Fine." Haley said, Nathan followed her silently. Knowing that anything he said wouldn't help, he just needed to support her. Silently she leaned into his side and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Haley you have to talk to me." Jimmy begged.

"I shouldn't have come over right now. But I guess I might as well say it now, and now after what I just seen, I'm not going to ask for permission. But I'm moving in with Nathan. I don't want to spend another night without him by my side. And this way you can spend many more nights having sex with you're whore. It's a win-win situation." Haley said bitterly.

"Marilyn is not a whore. She is a wonderful woman that I care about so much." Jimmy argued.

"fine. That doesn't change that fact that I am still moving out. I will be living with Nathan." he said.

"Haley don't do this. I just got you back." Jimmy begged.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and pack my bag." she said. She got up and walked upstairs, Nathan followed her silently. When they were safely in her room, Nathan shut the door behind her.

"I know this isn't my place, but I think you were overly hard on your father.:" Nathan said softly.

"You're right it isn't your place. I cant believe you think I was hard on my father. He's the one screwing the woman that ruined my life behind my back." she said harshly.

"Hey don't take this out on me. I'm just telling you that you dad didn't deserve you're anger. He's allowed to fall in love." Nathan said raising his voice just slightly.

"No he is supposed to pine after my mom, and my mom is supposed to come to her senses and go back to him. that's how it's supposed to happen. My family is supposed to be happy again, but that woman destroyed that." she said sinking down onto her bed.

"Just let it go. You dad is clearly in love with this woman. And if that's the case he deserves it. You're mom seems to have moved on. I think its time you did as well. You're father didn't do anything wrong, except maybe not telling you he was still with her." Nathan said lowering his voice.

"I cant. That woman ruined my life." she said sadly.

"Don't let her." he told her.

"She did though. You remember that year. I had lost my father, you and Lucas all in one night." she wailed.

"Well, your father is still here. He still loves you. Lucas still loves you, and you're still his best friend. I am still here. And I am even more in love than I was before. So evidently, she didn't take us from you. You still have us." he said kneeling down in front of her so he could stare into her dark brown eyes.

"I love you. I'm sorry for lashing out at you." she said twining her arms around his neck.

"I love you too. I'm sorry for arguing." he told her before kissing her softly. Haley packed her bag in silence, her had swimming with indecision about whether or not she should let him back in her life again. She wasn't sure, inside she knew that Nathan was right. It wasn't his fault, and if she was being honest with herself, it wasn't the woman's fault either. But Haley wasn't sure if she was able to be honest with herself, she would have to wait and see.


	11. Chapter 11

Finally got another chapter out. Thanks to all of you who review. I'm going to be on holiday's starting Tuesday, and i dont know if i'll get an internet connection out there. If anything i'll get lots of writing done while i'm there. Hope you enjoy the chapter. I can see the end of this story, but theres still a few more chapters left. Let me know what you think of the chapter.

PS i own nothing

* * *

Jimmy James sat in his living room, after Haley left. It was clear that whatever Nathan said to her upstairs helped a little bit. She wasn't speaking to him, but she also wasn't yelling either. He deemed it a small victory. He was sitting in silence when Marilyn walked in the room.

"Hey baby how are you?" she asked referring to the incident with Haley earlier.

"Better. She didn't yell at me as she walked out today." he noted.

"That's better I guess. So I'm guessing its not a good time to tell her about our little secret." she said.

"Probably not. She just found out we're still together." he said sadly.

"She deserves to know Jimmy. She may have acted completely inappropriately but she is still practically my step daughter. She deserves to know." Marilyn insisted.

"I know. She's having dinner with her mother tonight." Jimmy said stalling the inevitable.

"Then after dinner. We'll go to the apartment later tonight and tell her." she said.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Jimmy asked cautiously.

"Yes. It has to be done." Marilyn insisted.

Meanwhile, Haley was resting on the couch with her feet in Nathan's lap. He was massaging her feet while she read her book. Everyone once in a while she would sigh.

"You know what this has been the worst day ever." she stated.

"How so? By the way I thought the worst day ever was the day you moved away." he said.

"True. This was the second worst day ever. My mom comes here. We have to have dinner with my mom. My dad and the whore are still together. What else could go wrong." she said exasperated.

"For you it was a bad day. It was pretty good for me." he stated.

"How so?" she wondered.

"Let's see. The girl I'm so in love with agreed to move in with me, and willingly spend every night with me for the foreseeable future." he said staring into her eyes.

"Fine that was a good part. But the bad still outweighs the good." she told him.

"I disagree. I choose to focus on the good things that came of today. And ignore the bad. The bad doesn't matter. The bad doesn't exist. Maybe you should do the same. Because you agreed to move in with me. That makes today the greatest day of my life." he told her softly.

"You are quite charming." she noted.

"Oh I know." he said grinning at her. They lapsed back into silence as Haley went back to focusing on her book. She loved reading, in some certifiable way it calmed her down. She loved the feeling of getting lost in the characters in her books. Their lives always seemed to be less complicated than her own. They're problems always solves in the most efficient manner. A perfect world where problems are solved quickly and life is good. Love is easy. But that wasn't the real world. The real world has messed up families, messy love, problems that are difficult to solve. The real world was nothing like the world she read about in books. In the real world it took time to solve a problem, not 80 pages. She glanced at her watch and sighed staring at Nathan.

"Babe, we got to get going. My mom will be waiting. She hates it when people are late." she told him removing her feet from his lap.

"Okay, lets go get this over with." he said pulling her up off the couch.

Lydia was sitting at the table in the restaurant staring at her watch. It wasn't like Haley to be late, and when she was late it always bothered Lydia. Although Haley always did have a good reason to be late, she figured tonight would be different. Making out with your boyfriend was not considered a good reason to be late. Lydia was quite honestly dreading this dinner, mostly because she needed to confess something to her daughter. And if there was one thing that Lydia hated, it was letting her daughter down. She took a deep breath when she saw Haley and Nathan walked towards the table hand in hand.

"Hi kids." she greeted when they sat down at the table.

"Hi mom." Haley greeted.

"Okay so I need to tell you something." the two women said simultaneously. Both wanted to reveal their news at the exact same time.

"You go first." Haley stated nervously. She had no idea what her mother could possibly need to tell her, and she had a strange feeling that it was going to make her day that much worse.

"Okay dear. I just want you to know that I'm not moving back here. I cant." she started.

"Why?" Haley asked her throat closing off.

"Because in San Francisco I met someone the day after you came here. I met a man who makes me happy for the first time in over a year. We've been dating ever since and I care deeply for him." she said staring at her daughters pale face.

"You're dating? You and dad are supposed to get back together. You're supposed to fall back in love and be married again." Haley said angrily.

"I know and I'm sorry. Now what was it that you wanted to tell me?" Lydia asked.

"I'm moving in with Nathan. But what is with today? You and dad both telling me pretty much the same thing all in one night." she said frustrated.

"I'm sorry dear. I really am." she apologized.

"It really doesn't matter. Lets just finish here so Nathan and I can get home." she said relishing in calling the apartment home.

"That's fair." Lydia affirmed, knowing her daughter was upset with her right now, and needed time to wrap her head around things. The group ate in silence, no one knowing what to say to one another. Once everyone finished eating, Lydia got up to pay the bill. While she was gone, Haley turned to Nathan.

"Can you believe this? Both of my parents moving on." she asked upset.

"Now don't hate me, but your mom deserves to move on." he said softly. She stared at him angrily, but couldn't say anything because Lydia returned.

"We're gonna head out. I'll see you tomorrow sometime." Haley said standing up. Nathan could tell by the stiff set of her shoulders that she was angry. In silence he followed her out to the car.

"Do you ever get tired of defending my parents over me?" she asked angrily once they were in the car.

"I didn't choose them over you. You know I'm right though. that's why you're pissed." he retaliated.

"I'm so not talking to you at the moment." she stated turning away from him in the small car.

Once he pulled in at the apartment, Nathan saw Jimmy's car parked a little ways away.

"Hales, you're dads here." he said pointing to the car.

"Whatever." she said getting out and walking towards the stairs. One they got to the apartment door, she seen her dad and Marilyn standing by the door. Not wanting to talk to them, she walked right back them into the apartment.

"Do you want to come in?" Nathan asked as he walked in.

"Haley we need to talk to you." Jimmy said adamantly.

"About what? What could possibly make this day any worse that it already has been? Mom's dating you know." she said grumpily.

"I know. But I'm not here to talk about your mom." Jimmy said.

"Well what are you here to talk about?" Haley asked wearily.

"Marilyn and I have something to talk to you about. Now we have been dating for over a year now and you need to know that I love her very much. And you can hate me as much as you want. And you can hate Marilyn. But we love each other. But anyways I proposed to her and she said yes. We're getting married Haley" he said excitedly. Instead of saying anything, Haley got up and walked into the bedroom slamming the door behind her.

"Well that went better than I expected." Jimmy noted.

"Yeah. Me too." Nathan agreed staring at the bedroom door.

"Do you want me to go and talk to her?" Jimmy asked gesturing to the bedroom door.

"No. I'll do it. Although she's pissed at me too." he said.

"Why's she upset with you?" Jimmy asked confused, remembering how happy and in love they always seem.

"Apparently it wasn't my place to tell her that you guys deserve to move on. She's just being difficult today." he said.

"Oh. Okay we'll leave you to it then. Meet us for breakfast at the café tomorrow morning if you're able. We'll be there around 9." he said.

"We'll be there.| Nathan said before walking them to the door. Once they left he shut and locked it behind them. Before moving to the bedroom he took a deep breath, steadying himself for Haley's ire.

He opened the bedroom door to find Haley reading. Seeing at the very least that she was calm he moved to sit next to her on the couch.

"I know today has sucked for you babe." he said softly resting his hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"No you don't know. Remember the bad doesn't exist. Don't pretend to know what this is like." she said not looking up from her book.

"You think that I don't know what its like to have parents that don't love each other anymore? Because I do. You have it easy compared to what it was like with my parents. My parents hated each other, but still wouldn't divorce. They were mean to each other. At least you're parents get a second chance, mine decided to ruin each others lives for as long as possible. Would you rather you're parents being like that for the rest of their lives?" he asked.

" they aren't supposed to move on. My dad wasn't supposed to cheat. He wasn't supposed to fall in love with Marilyn. None of it was supposed to happen." she said adamantly.

"Well I wasn't supposed to fall in love with you either. I mean you were my tutor and that was it. But yet here I am, in love with you. You weren't supposed to fall in love with me either. I was the jackass that was mean to you're best friend. He weren't supposed to be together. So maybe you should focus less on supposed to, and just let everything go." he said placing his hand on her thigh.

"I never thought of it that way before. I reacted badly didn't I?" she said ashamed.

"I'm going to be honest with you. That girl that has been around most of today wasn't the girl I fell in love with. This was a Haley James that I don't know, and I don't really like. You a chance to fix it though." he told her.

"How do I do that? I was the worst possible version of myself today." she said sadly.

"First of all, you're father and Marilyn invited us to breakfast tomorrow morning at 9. We are going, I already told them we would. You can try and be civil to them. Then you need to talk to your mom." he told her.

"Okay." she said laying her head on his shoulder.

"But I still love you." he said softly kissing her forehead.

"I love you too." she said reaching up to kiss his lips.

The nest morning, as promised Haley and Nathan went to the café. When they arrived Jimmy and Marilyn were already seated.

"Nathan, Haley you guys came." Jimmy said happily.

"Yeah. I promised you didn't I?" Nathan replied.

"Haley how are you?" Jimmy asked his daughter.

"I'm fine daddy. I'm sorry how I acted yesterday. Congratulations to you and Marilyn on you're engagement." she said trying hard not to refer to Marilyn as "the whore."

"Thank you Haley. " Marilyn said smiling at her. Haley nodded and leaned into Nathan's side.

"Good work." he whispered in her ear.

"Thanks." she said kissing him softly.

"I told you already Haley, I make everything better. I'm awesome like that." he said smirking.

"That's what you think." she muttered. Nathan looked at her mock angrily.

"No that's what I know sweetheart." he told her.

"No that's what you're ego is telling you." she said matching his smirk.

"Ah. I am so not talking to you anymore." he said turning away from her. Jimmy laughed at the show in front of him, and took Marilyn's hand in his. He knew now that everything between him and Haley and Marilyn would be okay. It would all be okay.


	12. Chapter 12

here we go, sorry for the long time between updates. i hate myself for it. Hope you like. thanks to everyone who reviews this story. the feedback means a lot to me. Let me know what you think :)

PS i own nothing

* * *

"Doesn't that feel better? Making things right with you're father?" he said laying next to her on their double bed.

"It does. Thanks for pushing me baby." she said rolling onto her side.

"One parent down, one to go." he said lacing their fingers together.

"Yeah. But really. Thanks for today. I really appreciated you being here for me, even with the person I was being." she said reaching over to kiss him. He deepened the kiss before pulling away.

"So, since we're just laying here. I have an idea of what we could do." he said smirking.

"Nope. Not yet. We just moved in together. You don't get that privilege yet." she said shoving his body away from her.

"Hales. I want you." he said.

"I want you to. It's just- I always imagined I would be married the first time I had sex. That's still important to me." she said.

"Ok. Since I love you so much I will respect your wishes." he said rolling away from her.

"So have you given any thought to the college thing yet?" she asked.

"What about it?" he asked staring at her again.

"You're going to the community college, I'll be at Duke. Where will we live? I want to live with you." she said.

"Ah that. I found a solution. There is conveniently an apartment building smack dab between our colleges. Then once my grades get good enough to transfer to Duke, we can find an apartment closer to there." he said.

"You actually thought about it?" she said in wonder.

"Oh yeah. I thought about that long ago. I came up with the solution and was rather proud of it." he said smirking.

"As you should be. I'm proud of you." she said kissing the corner of his mouth.

"Tease." he muttered at the feeling of her kissing just the corner of his mouth.

"Do something about it." she muttered before feeling his mouth crash down on hers. Nathan rolled so he was hovering over Haley. His hands traced up her stomach. She felt her resolve faltering, and couldn't bring herself to care. They were kissing feverishly until someone rang the doorbell.

"Saved by the bell." Haley panted as she straightened her clothing.

"Damn doorbell." Nathan muttered as Haley went to answer the door.

Haley opened the door to find Marilyn standing on the doorstep.

"Marilyn. What are you doing here?" she said surprised to find her there.

"I actually wanted to see if you wanted to go shopping with me or something. Figured we should try to get to know each other. I'll treat you to lunch if you want. Besides I need a girls opinion on a few wedding dresses I have picked out. The only people I've asked are men." she said smiling.

"Um. Sure. Okay. Just let me grab my purse." she said walking towards the bedroom. When she entered Nathan was laying in the bed watching for her.

"Marilyn is here, she wants me to go shopping with her." she said as she picked up her purse.

"You should go. It'll give you time to get to know her. You know you should." he said

"I know. I told her I would go. Apparently, she needs help picking out a wedding dress." she said shrugging her shoulders.

"Just go. And play nice." he said pointing his finger at her.

"Yes sir." she saluted before joining Marilyn in the living room.

"Ready?" Marilyn asked when Haley rejoined her.

"Yeah." Haley answered and followed Marilyn out to her car.

They drove to the wedding dress store, and Marilyn showed Haley the dresses she picked out.

"So Haley I really want to apologize once again for the way I was sprung on you. It wasn't fair and I think in your place, I would have reacted the same way. So I'm sorry." she said.

"It's fine Marilyn. I was a horrible version of myself yesterday. Thanks to Nathan, I now realize that you make my dad happy, and despite it all that's what he deserves." she said.

"Nathan seems like good guy." Marilyn noted.

"He is. He is my always. He is the only one for me. I've always known it." she said, her eyes lighting up at the mention of Nathan.

"He loves you too." Marilyn noted.

"I know. I honestly don't know why though. I've been awful a lot lately." she said hanging her head.

"Don't be ashamed Haley. It's human nature to react the way you did when you're world gets turned upside down. Don't be ashamed. But now what do you think of this dress? Honestly?" she said donning the very large, very voluminous dress.

"Honestly? Very poofy. I don't like it at all." she said honestly.

"Okay. Next one. Thank you Haley, I'm glad you're being honest." she said going back into the changing room. A couple minutes later she came out wearing a simple white spaghetti strapped dress with A-line skirt.

"Beautiful. It's so you. I think you found you're dress." Haley said smiling to the woman genuinely for the first time.

"Really? Thank you so much Haley. Want to celebrate with lunch in the food court here and then some more shopping?" she asked.

"Sure." Haley said nodding, starting to like Marilyn more and more. They spent the rest of the afternoon together, and Haley felt the wall of disdain she dad for Marilyn start to crumble. Marilyn dropped her off at the apartment when they were finished for the day.

"Thanks for this afternoon Haley. I really appreciated you giving me a chance and helping me with the dress." she said smiling openly.

"It's not a problem. I had fun." Haley said turning to walk up the stairs.

"I'll see you again." Marilyn said driving away.

Jimmy sat in the living room waiting for Marilyn. He wondered idly how it went with her and Haley. Jimmy hoped it went better than he thought it would. At this poin the was expecting the worse, and that idea was too painful to think about. He needed his daughter in his life, and he also needed Marilyn. They were both big parts of his life. Jimmy sat up when he heard the front door open and close.

"Jimmy honey. I'm home." she called.

"Im in the living room. How was it?" he asked.

"I found a dress, and bonded with my step daughter. It was an amazing day." she said sinking down into the couch.

"Oh. So no fighting. No yelling. No screaming. No hair pulling." he clarified.

" No. Amazing isn't it. I honestly think her boyfriend got her where she is now." Marilyn said.

"I think so too. But did you ask her yet?" he asked.

"Not yet. I didn't want to rush anything. Make her uncomfortable. I didn't want to pile so much on her in one day out with me." she explained.

"That makes sense. But we need to know, so next time you're out with her, just ask. I doubt Haley will snap, especially now that she's over everything. Just ask, and if she says no then that's it." he said rubbing her thigh.

"Okay. You make it sound so easy." she said leaning into his side.

"It is easy." he replied kissing her forehead.

Meanwhile, Brooke and Lucas were lounging across her bed, hands entwined, staring at each other.

"Did you ever imagine that we would end up here, after everything that happened?" she asked staring in his eyes.

"Not really. I never expected you to ever speak to me again. Or Peyton for that matter." he said stroking her face.

"It took a little time. But I forgave Peyton because regardless she was my best friend, and I forgave you because I was still in love with you, and you took the initiative to end it with both of us until you decided." she said.

"I still hate myself for what it did to you though. That night that Haley found out about us three, she freaked. It was the reason I lost her as my best friend. It was the hardest year of my life." he spoke softly.

"It's all better now. Haley is back. She and Nathan are together, to the extent where we haven't seen them in days. We are together. And Peyton is happy. Life is how it should be." she said nestling herself into Lucas's arms.

"It is. Life is perfect." he said kissing the top of her head.

Nathan sat in the apartment, flipping through the channels waiting rather impatiently for Haley to return. He had to work at the bar tonight, and he wanted to spend as much time with Haley before he had to leave.

"Nate I'm home." she said when she walked through the door.

"Hey baby, how was it?" he asked when she sat next to him on the couch.

"It went well. She is actually kind of likeable. Who knew?" she said.

"I'm glad you two are getting along. Believe me, it is better to have two happy parents with other people than two miserable parents that are still married." he said.

"I know. You're right, as usual." she said laying her legs across his lap.

"Now, I have to work tonight, which really sucks. Which means that we are going to spend the next little while making out so I can focus on work tonight. I haven't worked since you came back." he said grazing his finger down her face.

"Such a dilemma. Kiss you, or read my beloved "A walk to remember."" she debated.

"Is there really a choice?" he asked

"Oh yeah. "A walk to remember" has more romance in its first hundred pages, than you have in your entire body." she said teasingly.

"Yeah right. I can do romance much better than Landon Carter ever could." he muttered before tossing her book across the room.

"Oh, you know his name. I'm so proud of you." she said clapping her hands together.

"You've forced me to watch the stupid movie with you several times babe." he noted.

"Ah! That movie is not stupid. It's a timeless love story. I don't like you anymore." she said gasping and turning away from him.

"Timeless? The relationship lasted such a short time. It's so stupid. A movie or book, should never be so sad. It's not right." he said.

"You said the movie was sad.?" she asked running a finger up his chest teasingly.

"I never said that." he muttered.

"Oh yes you did. You said the movie was sad." she teased moving closer to him on the couch.

" You're hearing things. I never said the movie was sad." he said crossing his arms across his chest.

"Okay then. It's just that, when I thought I heard you say those words, it kinda turned me on a little bit. I was more than willing to take up your invitation to make out until it was time for you to go." she said moving back to the extreme other side of the couch.

"What? Of course I thought the movie was sad. It's the saddest movie ever." he said sliding across the couch to sit next to her.

"You said it wasn't sad." she muttered, smirking.

"I lied. Haley, I'm a guy, we don't like admitting things make us sad, especially not a chick flick." he said.

"Okay then. You can kiss me now." she said turning towards him. Not needing any further invitation, he connected his lips to hers and kissed her passionately. She got into his kiss until her cell phone started chiming.

"Damn it. That stupid phone is going to be the death of me." he muttered handing the phone to her. Haley laughed and pressed talk on the phone.

"Hello?" she greeted.

"Hales. It's Rachel and Dean. What's up best friend?" they asked through the phone.

"Oh not much. I have to tell you though, Nathan currently hates you two." she said giggling.

"Oh why?" Dean asked confused, not remembering ever having done anything to offend him.

"We were making out when you called, and for the second time today, my phone interrupted us." she said.

"Ignore the damn phone Haley. Have I not taught you anything? Ignore the phone when you are with a boy in any fashion. If it's really important people keep calling. " Rachel said.

"Sorry Rach. But now that we're talking, how's San Francisco?" she asked kind of missing the place.

"The same as always. Hales, you should come visit. Bring the boyfriend, and come visit me. I know its only been a few days but I miss you best girlfriend. You, me, Dean and Nathan can have some awesome fun at the beach. I mean they are both hot, and so are we. Hales, you have to come." Rachel said eagerly.

"I'll talk to Nathan about it." she said.

"No you tell him that the two of you are going to San Francisco for a couple days. I'll buy the tickets, since I have nothing better to spend mom and dads money on. Call me back after you talk to the boyfriend. It'll be so fun Hales." she said.

"Fine, I'll talk to Nathan, and call you back." she said.

"Good, I'll be waiting by the phone, so hurry up." she said hanging up the phone. Haley pressed end and put the phone on the arm rest of the couch.

"So what did Rachel want that was so important that she had to interrupt us?" he asked pouting a little bit.

"She just wanted to talk. She misses me. Which is why she suggested you and I fly out to San Francisco this weekend or next it doesn't really matter and hang with Rachel and Dean." she said.

"That would be awesome, but neither of us can afford it because we have college coming up." he noted.

"We just have to get spending money, Rachel is buying are tickets so we have no excuse not to go, and we're staying at her house with her and Dean." she said.

"She doesn't really leave us any reason not to go does she?" he asked.

"No. we really don't have an option. So we're going?" she wondered.

"Yup. California will be awesome." he said smiling at her before capturing her lips in his. When they broke apart Haley squealed and called Rachel back, informing her of the plan.


	13. Chapter 13

yay i know its been a while, but here is another chapter. i hope the wait wont be as long next time. i send my laptop away tomorrow again, and i'm hoping to be able to update still even though its gone. i finally got my other one running good enough so there shouldnt be a long wait for chapters. Hope you enjoy this entirely fluffy chapter. Let me know what you think.

* * *

They landed in California on time and when the got off the plane and grabbed their bags to find Dean and Rachel waiting for them in the waiting more.

"Rachel. Dean." Haley squealed running into her friends arms.

"Hales. We missed you." Rachel squealed. After all the hugging and excitement was out of the way, the four drove to Rachel's beachfront home.

"This is where you live? It's incredible." Nathan said in amazement.

"This is what happens when you have parents that care more about their jobs then their teenage daughter living at home more or less alone." Rachel explained.

"That sucks." Nathan said.

"Not really. I mean yeah it gets lonely sometimes. But other than that its perfect. I don't have to worry about anything." she said smiling. Rachel unlocked the front door and led everyone inside. Haley immediately took her bags upstairs to the room she always stayed in when she slept here and Nathan followed close behind her.

"Get settled in and then meet me and Dean out at the water." Rachel said.

"Okay." Haley called down the stairs and started digging for the bikini Rachel had gifted her with a while back.

"I'm just going to go change" Haley said walking into the bathroom. Nathan nodded and quickly changed into his swimming shorts before flopping down onto the bed to wait for Haley. His eyes almost bugged out when she emerged in her bikini. He knew she had a nice body but he didn't know it was that nice.

"Wow. You look hot Miss James." he said, his voice thick.

"You don't look so bad yourself Mr Scott." she said smirking at him.

"Lets get to the water before Rachel and Dean wonder where we got to." Nathan said taking her hand and leading her outside.

"Yeah. Knowing Rachel, she'll think that we're having sex." she replied following him to the beach.

"Where have you guys been?" Rachel asked when they appeared.

"Changing and getting settled in." she said sitting down on the blanket with Rachel and Dean. Nathan sat down behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"You guys are so cute. But that's not that point, I want to go in the water, and I don't want to go alone." she said looking at the group.

"I'm out." Haley said immediately.

"Hales? Why?" Rachel begged.

"I don't like swimming since Dean here tried to drown me last time." she said mock glaring at Dean.

"Fine. Dean lets go swimming." she instructed standing up and holding out her hand to Dean. Dean took it and together they walked to the water.

"So no swimming?" Nathan asked as they watched Rachel and Dean frolic in the water.

"No swimming." she affirmed. Deciding that he wanted to swim, Nathan picked Haley up and swung her over his shoulder carrying her toward the water.

"Nathan put me down. Please put me down." she begged.

"I'll put you down when we make it to the water. You are swimming with me." he said marching towards the water.

"Put me down." she demanded. When he reached the water he dropped her, causing her to splash into the water.

"You're an ass." she said standing up.

"Come on I'll protect you from the evil Dean." he teased her.

"You better." she said taking his hand and standing up. He led them out further out to where Dean and Rachel were playing.

"How did you get her in the water?" Dean asked in wonder.

"I picked her up and carried her over here, then dropped her in the water." he explained.

"You're brilliant." Dean said slapping Dean's shoulder.

"Don't say that Dean. You'll make his ego even bigger and that isn't necessary believe me. It's already big enough." she joked poking his ribs.

"Haha. But too bad for you Hales, it already went to my head." he said joking.

"That was just what I was afraid of." she said shoving him slightly. Her slight shove took him off guard and he toppled into the water.

"Oh now you're gonna get it." he said when he emerged from the water.

"What can you do to me?" she asked while simultaneously backing away from him. He tackled her into the water. She fought her way back up and ran. Giving up on escaping from him, she decided to try a different tactic. She walked right up to him and kissed him as passionately as she could. Without fail, his arms immediately wound around her, pulling her even closer to him. His hands trailed up and down her spine, playing with the strings of her bikini.

"Ah ah." she said moving his hands onto her hips. He couldn't complain because regardless he was still touching her.

"I think this means, I win." he said.

"Ha ha. I think this means I win. I distracted you, you stopped attacking. Ergo, I win." she explained.

"Whatever gets you through the night." he said as he kissed her once again.

"Okay you two. The water is getting cold, we're gonna go warm up on the beach." Rachel said taking Dean's hand and pulling him towards the beach. Haley hadn't really noticed, being wrapped up in Nathan's arms made it seem perfect out there.

"do you want to get out?" he asked her.

"Yeah. Let's go lay on the sand with Rachel and Dean." she said.

"Okay." he said taking Haley's hand and pulling her out of the water. Haley immediately wrapped her towel around her body and laid down on the blanket. Nathan flopped down beside her. He rolled onto his side and caught her lips in his. She moved herself closer to him and allowed him to deepen the kiss.

"Excuse me. Best friends right here." Dean said waving his hands.

"Oh sorry." Haley said pulling away.

"Yeah, its not my fault that she cant keep her hands off of me." he said joking which earned him a smack across the chest.

"Ouch, Hales." he said whining, rubbing the spot that she hit him.

"So sorry." she answered sarcastically. Rachel laughed at their antics.

They stayed at the beach until it was getting dark, and they ventured together back up to the house. Rachel called for takeout, while everyone rested in the living room by the fireplace. Haley rested in between Nathan's legs cradling herself to his body, while Dean filled a few glasses with wine and handed them out. A little while later the food arrived and everyone sat down to enjoy it. When they were done eating they worked together to get the few dishes done before settling back down in the living room and watching movies.

"So what should we watch?" Rachel asked.

"I was thinking…" Dean started.

"NOT DIEHARD!" both girls exclaimed.

"Damn. Fine then. What do you want to watch then." he asked.

"I was thinking…." she started.

"You better not be thinking "A walk to remember" or "the notebook."" Nathan said pointing a finger at her.

"Fine. Rach, what do you want to watch?" she asked.

"I don't know. All I know is no way in hell are we watching Die Hard, and Nathan said no Nicholas Sparks more or less. Hmm, what else is there." she said flipping through the channels on the TV. A basketball game popped up on the TV and both guys cheered happily.

"Lets watch basketball, please Rachel." Dean begged.

"Yeah, please Rachel." Nathan begged.

"Well, while they're watching basketball, we can engage in some well deserved girl talk upstairs." Rachel suggested to Haley.

"Sounds good to me. I havent had a Haley/Rachel night in a long time." she said getting up. She leaned over and gave Nathan a lingering kiss before heading upstairs to Rachel's room. They guys settled in front of the TV watching the Lakers vs. the Bobcats. Nathan was firmly team Bobcats, while Dean was firmly a Lakers fan.

The girls sat upstairs on Rachel's bed, giggling about their relationships.

"You know we could get the guys going really well, by changing the conversation a little." Rachel suggested.

"What would we talk about?" she asked. Rachel smiled conspiratorially at Haley.

"Lets go downstairs and get some ice cream." she said.

"Okay." Haley answered confused.

"Just follow my lead." she instructed. The girls walked to the kitchen.

"Oh my God was you seen Travis McCay lately?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yeah. At the beach today." Haley answered, still not sure where Rachel was going with this.

"He looked so good in those swimming trunks. I almost considering going up and talking to him, or something." she said eying the newly quieted living room. Rachel winked at Haley.

"Oh yeah, me too. I mean he was too hot. I totally gave up on him without even giving him a shot." she said.

"I think we should go find him tomorrow, and take him out. I mean, he's gotta be more fun than our basketball watching boyfriends." Rachel said very slowly pulling the ice cream from the freezer.

"I bet. I think when we get back upstairs we should totally call him." she said.

"We should, but I had a different idea. I mean the guys are so distracted at the moment, that I thought we could have a lingerie party upstairs. I bought some new stuff a while back, that I would love to show you. I mean you are my best friend, the only person I would be comfortable wearing lingerie around." she said trying hard not to laugh.

"deal. I mean, I have some stuff too, that I have wanted to show someone. Will you check it out for me?" Haley asked.

"Yes. Yay, so excited. Lingerie, and Travis McCay." Rachel enthused.

"Yay. Let's go bestest friend." Haley said grabbing the spoons and running up the stairs. When they got back in her room, they both collapsed in a fit of laughter.

"Where did you come up with Travis McCay?" Haley asked.

"I actually seen him at the beach today." she said.

"Did you hear the TV get turned off. The guys were so listening to our conversation." Haley said.

"oh I know. Now I think we should talk about actors or musicians we think are so hot." she said.

"Okay." Haley said. They both heard the steps ascend the stairs and both girls knew they were positioned outside the bedroom door trying to hear what else they talked about.

"So what actor do you find totally hot right now Rach?" Haley asked.

"Oh I know he's older and everything. But I've got a huge thing for Johnny Depp. He's so ruggedly handsome. So hot. I am so into rugged guys." Rachel sighed audibly.

"Oh me too. He is so hot." Haley said.

"I think we should give Travis a call right now." Haley said pointing to the door. They could both hear the breathing from the other side of the door, and they knew that they were listening.

"You call him." Rachel said. "No that'd be weird. I mean, I wouldn't have to call him at all if Nathan weren't sitting downstairs watching a stupid game of basketball." Haley said wistfully.

"Oh I know. I mean, isn't it odd that they would rather watch guys running around a court, instead of hang out with their totally hot girlfriends. I guess we just have to settle with Travis. Although, Travis is much hotter than your man Hales." Rachel said winking.

"Oh you better take that back. Travis is so hotter than Dean." Haley said.

"Oh you are so going to pay for that. Pillow fight?" she suggested.

"Oh yeah. Bring it." she said picking up a pillow.

Nathan and Dean, licked their lips, and Dean felt his hand inching towards the doorknob.

"Just do it. We need to get in there." Nathan insisted.

"We shouldn't. That's invading their privacy." he insisted.

"Dude, they're having a pillow fight, possibly in lingerie. We have to get in there. At least I do." he said. "Oh, your right." he said opening the door, only to find the girls sitting on the floor wearing the same thing they had been wearing earlier, eating ice cream.

"Ah, so you finally caught on that we wanted you up here with us." Rachel said taking a large bite of her ice cream.

"yeah. You guys were fairly convincing. Who the hell is Travis McCay?" Nathan asked.

"He's a guy we went to school. I cant believe that Dean didn't catch on. Travis McCay is a jackass." Haley said.

"Oh good. So how about that ice cream?" he asked sinking to the floor beside Haley.

"Fine." she said passing him her spoon.

"How about that lingerie show?" he asked.

"Ha ha. Not a chance. You havent earned that yet baby." she said kissing him quickly.

"Oh this is gonna be a fun weekend." he said taking another bite of her ice cream.


End file.
